238 Our Food Mollusks 



the outlines of the available space. The shell is some- 

 times greatly distorted. Crowded oysters growing 

 parallel with each other on the top of a cluster can 

 only elongate, if they grow at all. Oysters, when not 

 crowded or confined, assume a rounded form, though 

 when allowed to become very old and large, they 

 normally begin to elongate. The soft parts of densely 

 clustered oysters are usually thin and watery, probably 

 because food is not sufficient for all members of a 

 cluster. This is especially true of oysters exposed at 

 low tide, for they are able to obtain food only when 

 immersed. 



Such elongated forms are called " raccoon " or " coon 

 oysters," either from their fancied resemblance to a 

 raccoon's paw or from the fact that these animals frequent 

 the beaches where they are found, presumably in search 

 of them. 



Clusters of coon oysters are not peculiar to the Caro- 

 lina sounds. Where beds are not frequently tonged, 

 they are found in Louisiana, and would form readily in 

 northern oyster waters if left undisturbed. A cluster on 

 a hard, clean bottom would assume a roughly hemispher- 

 ical, instead of an elongated form, because young oysters 

 attaching to the sides, as well as to the top of the grow- 

 ing cluster, would be able to live and grow. These, also, 

 not being so often forced to grow parallel with each other 

 as in the case of those being covered with mud, would 

 not so often be elongated. 



A question of economic importance presents itself 

 here. As the elongated form assumed by clustered 

 oysters is due only to close crowding, would such oysters 

 become large and well rounded if separated from the 

 clusters and spread on a suitable bottom? Might not 



