OTHER BIVALVE MOLLUSKS 99 



the Common Mya, or Soft-shelled Clam, was known 

 in Europe and on the Atlantic Coast long ago, and 

 was highly esteemed as an article of food, whether 

 it was fried, steamed, or made the basis of a chow- 

 der. It was unknown in San Francisco Bay until 

 the year 1874, when a few specimens were discovered 

 near Oakland. They were supposed to be novelties 

 and were named Mya HeJiiphilli^ Newc, in honor of 

 the veteran collector, Mr. Henry Hemphill. In a 

 little while, however, its true nature became known 

 and conchologists realized that the Atlantic Mya 

 had crossed the continent, doubtless with seed oysters 

 from Chesapeake Bay, and had settled down in the 

 western waters. Unlike the aristocratic oyster, 

 which propagates but slowly with us, the more ple- 

 beian clam began to hll the mud-flats on both sides 

 of the bay with its burrows and in a few years its 

 descendants were numbered by the millions. This 

 species has been planted at Santa Cruz in the 

 south, and in Shoalwater Bay in the north, where 

 it is a great success; also in Coos Bay and elsewhere 

 along the coast of Oregon and Washington. 



Although not quite so delicious as the oyster, the 

 Mya is an excel- 

 lent food-mollusk, 

 and great numbers 

 of these clams are 

 sold in San Fran- 

 cisco and Oakland. 

 Its domains are not 

 fenced in like the 

 oyster fields, but it Fig^ 



