REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 23 
They were taken from the flats in various parts of the bay at 
Wickford, the Kickemuit river, and other localities, when the tide 
was phenomenally low. One of the largest specimens, taken from 
Wickford, measured 52 inches in length and weighed 15 ounces; 
and a bushel taken at random from the market contained only 119 
clams. 
Lgg-Laying, and Habits of the Very Young Clams. 
The eges of the clam, like those of the oyster, are exceedingly 
minute. Like the latter, also, they are extruded into the water 
where they are fertilized, and where they develop into free-swim- 
ming larve. The exact limits of the egg-laying period of the clam 
have not been determined, but it probably extends through the _ 
months of May and June, as Dr. Kelloge conjectured in the last 
Report. 
On the eighth and on the twelfth of May the clams examined 
at the Kickemuit river were full of sexual products, which ap- 
peared under the microscope to be nearly ripe. On May 22 Isuc- 
ceeded in fertilizing some of the eggs artificially by dissecting 
them out into a dish of sea-water and adding the sperm taken 
from the male clam in the same way. The early stages of devel- 
opment were regular and apparently normal, but, unfortunately, I 
could not remain at the house-boat to care for the eggs, and they 
died. The experiment proved, at least, that the clams were ready 
to breed toward the last of May, and that it is possible to fertilize 
the eggs artificially. 
On May 29 a silk net was obtained which was fine-meshed 
enough to hold many of the free-swimming young of the clam, 
and from this date until the second week of July these minute 
clams were taken at Wickford almost every day by dragging the 
net along the surface of the water. 
The specimens caught in this way are hardly visible to the un- 
aided eye. By the aid of the microscope they are seen to have 
two shells hinged together, and in this respect they resemble the 
adult clam. In order to procure them for examination the skim- 
