THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 247 



PoMPANO-SHELLS. — Mollusks of tlie genus Donax. (Florida gulf.) Eaten by the pompano. 



Prog. — To search for clams, etc., along the shore in a desultory way. (Connecticut.) 



Pkogger. — One who digs chxms and searches for other sea-life alongshore, in a desultory and unbnsiness-like way. 

 A man who persistently gets his living this way is generally a good-for-nothing fellow, and is said to " follow 

 the creek". (Connecticut.) 



QuAHAUG. — The "hard" or "round" clam, Venus mereenaria. An Algonquin word, spelled in various ways, and 

 iisually wrongly pronounced ko-liog. 



Eabbit-eak. — A long, slender oyster. See Coon-heel. 



Eaccoon Oysters. — Wild oysters, growing naturally on muddy banks, exposed at low tide ; and owing to their 

 luxuriance and crowded condition, long, slender, and shapeless; or very diminutive. (Southern coast.) 



Eaice. — An instrument for lifting the oyster from the bed ; shaped much like the agricultural implement of the 

 same name, but all iron except the handle, and having tines straight, and from C to 12 inches long, or curved 

 into a half circle. The rake is an ancient device. In 174S Baron Kalm crossed New York bay, and notes the 

 following sentence: "We saw many boats, in which the fishermen were busy catching oysters; to this 

 purpose they make use of a kind of rake with long iron teeth bent inward. These they used either single or 

 two tied together in such a manner that the teeth were turned toward each other". The rake is used in deeper 

 water than the tongs (which see), and is more serviceable in catching quahaugs than oysters ; indeed, it is now 

 rarelj^ used for the latter, except in Buzzard's bay, Massachusetts. With it the oysterman can alternately push 

 his boat along and then pull the rake toward him, and thus take all the mollusks that lie in his path. 



Eazor-blade. — A long, slim oyster. (Connecticut.) See Coon-heel. 



Eed-beard. — The red sponge, Microciona prolifera, Verrill, commonly growing on northern oysters. Consult 

 Vcrrill's Invertebrates of Vineyard Sound, [741] 447. 



Eeefer. — A natural reef-growing or untransplanted oyster. (Mobile to Texas.) 



Eiddle. — To sift the young oysters and cultch on a bed by means of coarse-netted dredges. (Norwalk.) 



EiM. — The worthless part of the scallop flesh, remaining after the edible portion has been cut out. (Ehode 

 Island.) 



EocK. — A growth of native oysters massed into a rock-like bottom or ridge. (Chesapeake and southward.) 



EoCK-OYSTER. — An oyster found growing ujiou a rock, as distinguished from those found in beds ; wild growth. 



EoLLiNG John. — A detached sponge drifting about the bottom. (Florida.) 



EouGH Culling. — Hasty separation, throwing out only dead shells and largest trash. (Virginia.) 



EouGH Whelk. — A small moUusk, the Urosaljnnx cinerea. (Chesapeake.) 



EuCHE. — A pile of arched tiles, loosely placed, to catch and lodge oyster-spawn; one form of collector, q. v. (France.) 



EuFFLE. — The connected egg-capsules of the periwinkles. 



EuNNER. — Vessels engaged in transporting oysters from the grounds to the market; they also buy the stock they 

 cany. (Chesapeake.) 



Saddle-Eock Oysters. — A trade name in New York for the largest and finest oysters. 



Sand. — To bury oysters beneath drifting sand or mud. 



Sanding. — I. The burying of oysters under storm-drifted sand or mud. 



Sanding. — II. In some parts of Ehode Island they say an oyster is sanded or sanded up, when it is thickly coated 

 with annehds' tubes, and the mud which has gathered among them. 



Sand-oysters. — Single scattered oysters found on leeward sandy shores. (Chesapeake.) 



Sand-sucker. — Holothurians, Nereids, and other soft animals buried in the low-tide sand, and showing tentacles. 

 (Florida, Gulf coast.) 



ScH^FFER.— Cart-boys or Arabs, who peddle a mean quality of oysters (Maryland stock) about the streets of 

 Baltimore. 



ScHOONER-BASKET. — A basket holding three-fourths to seven-eighths of a bushel, used in measuring oysters to be 

 sold out of vessels. (New York.) 



Scallop. — An edible mollusk of the family Pectenidce, genus Pecten, Several species in the United States. 



ScALLOPER. — A scallop-fisher. 



Scalloping. — Fishing for scallops. 



ScALLOP-NET. — The small dredge used in catching scallops. (New Bedford.) 



Scoop. — A light kind of dredge. (Chesapeake.) See Scraper. 



Scow. — See ArJc. Also called Scotc-house. 



Scraper. — A small dredge. Chiefly spoken of with reference to scallops. (New England.) See Dredge, Scallop- 

 net, and Kettle-hail. A writer in a New Y'ork journal, in 1855, describes this dredge, which was chiefly used 

 there in cleaning old planting-ground, thus: "A singular-looking instrument, somewhat resembling a scythe, 

 with this exception, that at one side of the blade a large bag, constructed of iron ring-work, is attached. Into 

 this all the scowings of the bed, cleaned ofl' with the front of the blade, fall, and the whole is hauled up at 

 regular intervals." See Drag-rake. 



