ft 



*** 8T.1Tg BlOloom. 



NOTES ON THE SPAWNING HABITS 



RAZOR CLAM. 



Machcera patula — TilXOJS. 

 Siliqua {patula var.) Nuttallii — Conrad. 



RECOMMENDATIONS 



REGARDING 



PROTECTIVE MEASURES. 



BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. > 



University of Oregon, 



Eugene, April 5, 1900. ) 

 His Excellency, T. T. Geer: 



Dear Sir: — This clam, which forms such an important 

 article of diet on this northwest coast, needs no introduction 

 to the people of Oregon. The genus is of wide distribution, 

 being reported as occurring in India, China, Ochotsk, Sitka, 

 Behring's Sea, Newfoundland. 



It is feared here, that, as a result of its unlimited persecu- 

 tion, both in summer and winter, il may eventually become 

 fare, or even extinct. To guard against any possibility of 

 the loss of this article of food, Mr. Johann Young, in the 

 legislative assembly of 1898-1899, introduced House Bill No. 

 118, to provide for its protection. The bill reads as follows : 



A BILL 

 For an Act providing for the protection of razor clams, ami declaring an emergency. 



/>'- it enacted by thi Legislative Assembly of th< StaU of Oregon: 



Section 1. It shall be unlawful from and after the passage of this Act to 

 dig-, take, kill, injure, destroy, buy, sell, or offer for sale any shellfish com- 

 monly known as the razor clam, between the first day of June and the 



