28 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 
even after they have burrowed they are kept in place by these 
anchor-threads so that they are not uncovered and tumbled about 
by the action of the water. But, even leaving this factor out of 
account, the smaller specimens burrow much more readily than the 
larger ones, and the burrowing becomes more and more sluggish 
as the size increases. _ 
In regard to the best method of taking care of the clams between 
the time of collecting and of transplanting, the experiments show 
that the sooner they are planted the better, but that, if they must 
be kept for a considerable number of hours, it is better to keep 
them in the air than in the water. They should not, however, be 
allowed to become too dry, especially if they are very small, nor 
should they be packed too closely together for a long time, but 
should be spread out in comparatively thin layers. In one series 
of experiments, in which the clams were sorted into four classes 
according to size, the average per cent. of the clams of all classes 
which burrowed was 91.2, when, they were planted one hour or less 
after taking. The per cent. was 84.9 when they were planted after 
being kept dry twenty-four hours; and 76.8 when kept in water 
twenty-four hours. The rate of burrowing is facilitated by digging 
up the soil, though the practice has this objection—that the clams 
become less firmly fixed on account of the looseness of the soil 
which is thus softened. They burrow about as satisfactorily in 
light gravel as in sand, and for very small clams the gravel beds 
have somewhat the advantage, because the gravel gives attach- 
ment for the byssus threads which anchor these specimens. 
Experiments in Clam-Culture.—Profiting by the results sum- 
marized in the above accounts, we have devoted our efforts, during 
the past season, mainly to larger experiments in actual clam-cul- 
ture. The General Assembly of the State passed the following 
act, at its January session, 1901, which permitted the commission 
to occupy, to the exclusion of others, land between high and low 
water mark to an extent not exceeding three acres, for the purpose 
of carrying on these experiments : 
