were not held with stakes, but were completely buried so that detritus did not collect 

 underneath and smother the clams — . Two strips of Saran were sewn together with 

 unraveled Saran filaments to make pieces 6 feet wide and 8 to 12 feet long. On 

 April 15, three strips were put out in Plum Island Sound, one at Hales Cove on moder- 

 ately soft mud, one on Horseshoe Flat on firm compact sand, and one on the Parker 

 River flat, with fairly loose sand. On May 28 a strip was put out in Hampton, New 

 Hampshire . This flat was composed of firm sand but it had an unusually large popula- 

 tion of worms, particularly Nereis and Clymenella . Nereis tunnels with rust-colored 

 walls practically honeycombed the flat . 



Of the three strips of Saran in Plum Island, one produced a good crop of clams but 

 the others had little or no effect because of shifting sand. The one in the Parker River 

 was completely buried and naturally had no effect . The one on the firmer sand of 

 Horseshoe Flat was alternately covered and uncovered as small dunes or ripple marks 

 moved across it. The effect of this was to collect clams of the current summer in 

 September and October, but none of the larger 1953 clams survived. On the stable soil 

 at Hales Cove, September, October, and December samples showed 1, 000 to 1, 500 

 clams per square foot under Saran, while the controls varied between 40 and 300 . Even 

 more important than these large numbers is the fact that there were 12 to 62 clams, 

 larger than 25 mm . , per square foot under the Saran . 



On February 18, 1955, this plot was sampled again. The Saran had washed away, 

 but many clam holes marked the plot. A square-foot sample had only 215 clams, but 

 19 of them were over 25 mm., therefore 1953 clams, and large enough to be sedentary. 

 The control had 39 clams, all under 12 mm. The success of Saran at Hales Cove was 

 due to the fact that detritus was kept out by burying the edges of the Saran and the soil 

 did not shift. Also small clams were present. The results are not due to random 

 variation . 



The Saran at Hampton seems to have been a special case that raised more problems 

 than it solved. In spite of the stable soil, neither the Saran nor the control ever had 

 many clams from June through November. On February 15, when the surface of the 

 flat became cleaner and firmer than it had been, square foot samples had 188 under 

 the Saran and 26 beside it. Apparently this flat was not suitable for small clams, at 

 least during the summer. I am inclined to suspect the worms had something to do with 

 the situation, either directly or indirectly. 



2/ This method was used successfully by the Clam Commissioner of Essex, 

 Massachusetts in 1953. 



