MYAD2E. GAPER. 11 



by both rich and poor." * In New York they are sold 

 at three dollars per hundred, and, retail, thirty-five 

 cents per dozen, and are best in cold weather. 



Mr. R. E. C. Stearns, in the c American Naturalist ;' 

 May, 1881, mentions the introduction (probably re- 

 cently) of Mya arenaria in the Bay of San Francisco, 

 and that it is now one of the most abundant species of 

 shellfish to be seen in the markets. 



Myadce are widely distributed, and are not only food 

 for man, but for the walrus and other northern animals, 

 besides birds and fishes, which relish them greatly. 

 Captain Tackey, in his expedition to the river Zaire, 

 or Congo, found that a species of Mya was much 

 sought after by the natives, and that three or four 

 hundred canoes were met with near Draper's Islands, 

 in which the people were busily engaged in dragging 

 up these shellfish ; having made temporary huts by 

 bending and entwining living branches of trees, be- 

 sides, occupying caverns in the rocks with their 

 families during the fishing-season. The shells were 

 opened, and the fish having been taken out was dried 

 in the sun. The Chinese name for Mya arenaria is 

 " Tse-ga," and they consider it a great delicacy, and 

 they eat it with a seasoning, of which onion is the 

 base.f 



A Clam dredger was exhibited at the International 

 Fisheries Exhibition in the Chinese collection. It 

 was a rake, which is fastened round the waist of the 

 fisherman with a rattan band. He walks backwards 



* Papers of the Conferences held in connection with the Great 

 International Fisheries Exhibition : * Mollusks, Mussels, Whelks,' &c. 

 by Charles Harding. 



f ' Notice sur la Malacolo./ie du littoral de l'Empire Chinois,' par 

 Odon Desbeau. ' Journal de Conchyliologie,' tome xi. 1863. 



