160 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



Island Sound, for example, spawning takes place during the 

 months of April, May and June and a few individuals may 

 spawn as late as July and August. In the Atlantic Ocean 

 off Coney Island and Sandy Hook where the water is cold 

 they do not spawn out much before September. The eggs 

 flow from the female in a steady stream, sometimes in the 

 form of a string which breaks up into short segments or 

 occasionally as a lot of separate eggs. In quiet water they 

 sink to the bottom, forming a pinkish mass. About 

 13,000,000 eggs are deposited by a female each season. 

 The male discharges clouds of milt into the water; it mixes 

 with the eggs which, when impregnated, develop at a rapid 

 rate. Free-swimming embryos are formed within four or 

 five hours after the genital products meet. The embryos 

 are borne hither and thither by the tidal currents for from 

 three to five days. By this time they have formed a shell 

 and begin to attach themselves to sea weeds, hydroids, 

 wharf piles or other convenient objects. A foot is then 

 developed which becomes the chief object of locomotion and 

 by means of it they creep from unfavorable situations to 

 more suitable ones. 



Growth, under proper conditions, is rapid. When 

 planted at the mouth of an estuary where food is supplied 

 in great abundance, where there is no deposition of silt 

 and where there is little or no exposure between tides, they 

 reach a length of three inches in from two to three years. 

 Four years in such a situation will produce the finest of 

 mussels measuring close to four inches in length. 



The distribution of the sea-mussel is very wide. It is 

 found from the Arctic regions south on our Atlantic Coast 

 to North Carolina, on the Pacific Coast to San Francisco, 

 on the Asiatic Coast to Japan and on the European Coast 

 as far south as the Mediterranean Sea. It is exceedingly 

 abundant in the shallow, sheltered bays along the coasts of 

 New Jersey, Long Island, Rhode Island and Massachussetts. 



The bathymetrical range is from the littoral zone to 

 about one hundred fathoms. The majority of beds, how- 



