THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 131 



as bait for a voyage from fifteen to twenty-five bushels of whelks. 

 These are preserved in bags made of netting and may be kept for a 

 long time in the wells of the smacks. When wanted, the shells are 

 broken and the animals extracted. 



The whelk is especially common in the United States from Portland 

 to the Bay of Fundy, and extends to the south of Cape Cod, although 

 rarely. It is usually known in America as the winkle, and is so abun- 

 dant on the coast of Maine that it could readily be used as bait for cod. 



There are many other of the univalves that may be employed as bait, 

 such as the Busycon and Pyrula, which though seldom used are capable 

 of the same application. 



(10) Clams. — The clam in its various forms constitutes a very impor- 

 tant portion of the bait used on a large scale in the United States and 

 belongs especially to the following species : 



The soft clam, My a arenaria. 



The common hard clam, Venus mercenaria. 



The most important of these is perhaps the soft clam, Mya arenaria, 

 which occurs in immense numbers along the entire eastern coast of the 

 United States, and is consumed both as food and as bait. For the lat- 

 ter purpose it is collected very largely on the clam fiats of Massachu- 

 setts and Maine, in some localities the plow being used at low tide to 

 turn' up immense numbers. An especially favorite locality is near Ips- 

 wich, Mass., where the immense size of the aboriginal kitchen-middens 

 attest the antiquity of the abundance of this species, these being- 

 rivaled, however, by the piles of recent shells heaped up by the clam- 

 diggers. About forty barrels of salted clams constitute an average 

 fare for a cod fishing -vessel, and there appears to be no special diffi- 

 culty in furnishing any number that may be called for, as notwithstand- 

 ing the demand, the price at which they are sold now is little more than 

 it has been for many years. 



The so-called hard clam is more southern in its distribution than the 

 Mya, and is less extensively used as bait, in view of the great demand 

 for it as an article of food. On the sea coast, in a small way, however, 

 it is used to a considerable extent. 



The hen clam, or Mactra solidissima, is also a species which furnishes 

 a valuable bait, and is especially abundant at present in the vicinity of 

 Nantucket, Mass., where large numbers are taken out and used by the 

 cod-fishermen. 



In the Gulf of Mexico aud the vicinity of Mobile and New Orleans 

 the Gnathodon cuneatus, a so-called clam, is also employed largely in 

 the minor fisheries, but has no prominence at all as a bait for the more 

 important enterprises. 



According to Mr. NB.Niitt, collector of customs at Eastport, clams 

 are not collected to any great extent in that vicinity as bait, but they 

 are gathered along the shore from Machias to Mount Desert and sold 

 by dealers at Deer Isle, Booth Bay, and Portland. Forty barrels rep- 



