56 WEST COAST SHELLS 



expansa^ Cpr., which is nearly circular, and is at- 

 tached by the whole surface of the lower valve, and 

 rufoides^ Cpr., whose shells are reddish in color, and 

 often quite oblong in shape. 



As soon as the railroad from California to the 

 East had been built over the mountains and across 

 the plains there was a chance to bring live oysters 

 from the Atlantic coast and plant them in the shal- 

 low parts of San Francisco bay. Young oysters can 

 be conveniently packed in barrels, and if they are 

 kept moist and cool, they will live for a week or 

 more, and that was long enough to bring them on the 

 cars from one ocean to the other. When they 

 arrived at Oakland they were at once put upon rafts 

 and taken to places that had been well fenced in to 

 keep out the big fishes, w^hich the boys call "sting- 

 arees," that like oysters as well as we do. Then a 

 man on the raft would take them up in shovelfuls 

 and sow them into the water as a man sows wheat in 

 his field. In this manner large spaces were planted 

 with eastern oysters, mostly Ostrea virginiana^ Lis- 

 ter. After living three or four years in the bay the 

 little oysters have grown from the size of a dime or 

 a silver quarter to a length of some four inches. 

 They are now gathered by tongs, shaped like two 

 rakes fastened together, and piled upon rafts. The 

 larger ones are sent to market, while the smaller ones 

 are returned to new beds and allowed another )ear 

 of peaceful repose. 



Among the enemies of the oyster may be men- 

 tioned the Ray fish, already alluded to, the starfish, 

 which has a bad habit of insinuating its everted 



