REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. at 
are fertilized and in a short time develop into very minute free- 
swimming forms with little resemblance to the adults. In this 
condition they live an active life and are carried hither and thither 
by the tides for several days at least before they settle down to 
the bottom or attach themselves to some object like a stone or 
piece of sea-weed. The obvious result of this method of repro- 
duction is that the young clams do not remain where the eges 
are laid but are very widely distributed by the tides. This fact 
readily explains the sudden appearance of a large set of clams in 
a locality where the adults are scarce. It is not at all unlikely, 
moreover, that the clams below tide-mark, and out of reach of their 
human enemy, produce a large proportion of the clams which set 
on the shore. (See foot-note, p. 32.) 
(7) In the manner of setting, and in the peculiar characteristics 
of the young clams after they have set, there are two facts which 
will prove of the greatest service in clam culture. 1. The clam 
set is not evenly distributed even in regions of the Bay where the 
water is full of the free-swimming young, but in some localities 
the set is extremely thick while in neighboring localities, a few 
rods distant, only a small number may be found. 2. The young 
clams, from one-fourth to one-half an inch long, have a remarkable 
capacity for burrowing, a capacity which is greatly diminished as 
the animal grows larger. At the proper season, therefore, and in 
the localities where the set is thick, the clams can easily be col- 
lected in immense numbers by means of a sieve; and fortunately 
the time when they can be collected with the least difficulty hap- 
pens to be the very best time for transplanting. By far the best 
time for collecting and transplanting is from the first week in July 
to the first or second week in August. It is hundreds of times 
easier to collect them at this season by means of a sieve than at 
other times of the year with a clam-hoe. There is perhaps even 
a greater advantage in transplanting at this time, from the fact 
that the clams can now be sowed broadcast like grain and will 
soon burrow into the sand; whereas, larger specimens from one 
inch upwards must necessarily be planted and carefully covered 
