CIVIC PROBLEMS DELATING TO MOLLUSKS 275 



while they evidently find food and conditions generally favorable to 

 growth, there has been difficulty in getting them to spawn. It is 

 claimed that they have now become acclimated and are spawning 

 freely in some of the inlets of the Washington coast. If this is true, 

 such oysters ought to be used exclusively for seeding all available coves 

 of the Pacific coast, which are few at best. To use them otherwise, 

 until this is done, would be monumental folly. Pacific-coast schools 

 should give special attention to this problem. 



Oatrea edulis is the native oyster of the European Atlantic, and, like 

 O. lurida, is hermaphroditic, while 0. virginica is bisexual. For a com- 

 munity interested in oyster culture a good topic would be a comparison 



FIG. 124. Ostrea virginica 



Left, old shell covered with young oysters ; middle, shells of four large specimens 

 about 6 inches long ; right, shell of an old oyster riddled by boring sponges 



of local with European methods. Possibly France has attained nearest 

 to 100 per cent efficiency in the use of her available oyster beds. The 

 French attend not only to the rearing of the oysters but to the propa- 

 gation of certain kinds of algse which impart desired colors and flavors 

 to the finished product. 



The civic problem which must be solved by the rising generation is 

 that of developing the oyster industry to as near 100 per cent efficiency 

 as possible. Much as we have already done in this direction, probably 

 not more than 2 per cent of the possible production of American waters 

 has been attained. How we can develop to 100 per cent efficiency in 

 each community is the problem for each community to solve. 



Sea mussels Mytilus edulis (and other species). The range of Mytilus 

 is circumpolar, fringing the northern coasts from Japan around to the 



