INLAND FISHERIES. /9 



clividuals were found in New Bedford harljor by Yinal N. Edwards, 

 of the U. S. Fish Commission. These forms were attached to 

 floating' timbers, together with masses of ascidiaus {molgula). 

 Professor Ryder, in his study of them, found in a few specimens, 

 a single byssus thread arising from a byssus gland in the foot. 



Being invited by Dr. H. C. Bumpus, of Brown University, who 

 represented the Rhode Island State Fish Connnission, to make 

 some investigations on the life historj^ of the clam during the 

 summer of 1898, I proceeded to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to 

 consult with him in regard to the work. Soon after my arrival, I 

 was informed by Dr. A. D. Mead, who had just returned from the 

 Kickemuit River, in Rhode Island, that he had observed a small 

 bivalve in great numbers in the seaweed in which were also to be 

 found the small starfish which he was engaged in studying. On 

 proceeding to the " River," I found the creatures which I had 

 previousl}^ seen at Woods Hole in countless numbers attached by 

 a byssus thread to the matted filaments of the marine alga Enter- 

 iiiorpha, and rarely to Viva and eel-grass. The Enteromorpha was 

 attached to the long blades of the eel-grass, and to stones on the 

 bottom, and was found only near the beach, which contained a 

 great many clams. The small lamellibranchs I soon determined 

 to be the young of Mya, and the following is an account of their 

 development and habits from the period of their fixation by the 

 byssus thread to the adult condition. 



Not being able to reach the shore before the last of June, I was 

 unable to obtain material for the study of the embryonic stages of 

 the development. 



SOME STRUCTURAL PECULIARITIES OF THE SMALL CLAM. 



Many of the attached forms were extremely small. Several 

 were obtained which were but y^- of a millimeter in length, and 

 these the unaided eye could with great difficulty distinguish from 

 fine grains of sand. A glance at Figure 2, which represents an in- 

 dividual of this length, shows a creature with little resemblance to 



