320 Our Food Mollusks 



clams of their own. Among them are the " giant clam " 

 or "geoduck" (Glycimeris generosa), that sometimes 

 attains a weight of more than six pounds; the great 

 "Washington clam" or "gaper clam" (Schizotherus 

 nuttalli), formerly abundant, but now so much reduced 

 in numbers that it is seldom found in the market; the 

 " little neck," " hard shell," or " rock clam " (Tapes 

 staminea-not the little neck of the Atlantic coast), 

 which is found in the markets of Bellingham, Seattle, 

 Tacoma, and elsewhere; and the "butter clam" (Saxi- 

 domus nuttalli), now extensively canned. 



But the virtues of Mya are such that it will probably 

 commend itself to the western public, especially as most 

 of the native species are becoming much less abundant. 

 Even if Mya could be had in numbers great enough 

 eventually to take their places in the markets, it would be 

 a great pity to see these wonderful western forms ma- 

 terially decrease. Unfortunately, practically nothing is 

 now known of their development, their life histories, or 

 their rates of growth, and it is idle to speculate on 

 their possible fate, or on what their cultivation in the 

 bays of Washington and California might mean com- 

 mercially to those states. 





