CIVIC PKOBLEMIS KELATI^G TO MULLUSK8 -111 



gather in solid masses in tide pools, a siugle find of this sort often suf- 

 ficing to plant acres of barren beach at almost no cost. Antiquated and 

 utterly destructive beach laws and customs, remains of piracy, are keei> 

 ing barren and totally unproductive thousands of acres of New England 

 beaches and flats that might, under enlightened civic management, be 

 yielding per acre from ^WO to $500 worth, or more, of these delectal>le 

 mollusks. These places aif uot adajitcd to the culture of either sea 

 mussels or oysters. 



Hard, or little-neck, clam (quahog) — Venus mercenaria. As relations 

 now stand, Venus ranks second in eomnu'rcial importance among th«* 

 Atlantic-coast mollusks. It is par excellence the chowder clam c»f th«' 

 country, and when 3'oung it is also relished on the half shell. In range 

 Venus is a southern form, thus supplementing Mii<i. The two overlap from 

 Cape Cod to South Carolina, and froni the Chesapeake southward and 

 through the Gulf of Mexico Venus lives in enormous beds, unknown 

 and consequently unutilized. This clam has short sii)lions (whence the 

 name "little-neck "), and buries itself only about the depth of its shell. 

 It su}»plements the oyster in marine aquiculture, growing l>est on soft, 

 muddv bottoms from Itetween tide lines out to ^^•;^te^ ten fathoms or 

 more in depth. ^ 



Scallops — Pecten irradians and P. magellanicus. Kj)icures have assured 

 us that " tlie scallop is tiie daintiest of all foods the waters produce. "- 

 The smaller pecten, ]*. irradians, occurs in the shallow, eel-grass waters 

 south of Ca])e Cod, down the southern Atlantic, aud in the Gulf of 

 Mexico. AVhile jiiratical methods are exterminating it from its north- 

 ern range, fartluM- south there are (pumtities, totally unknown and 

 unutilized, which might support profitable fisheries. 



The northern, or "giant," scallo]< {P. ma (jell aniens) lives in water 

 from 40 to 60 fathoms deep, over rocky bottoms ditlicult to dredge, which 



1 Kellogg figures the crop from an acre, one year after planting with small 

 seed little-neck.s, at GOO bushels, worth at least ^8 per bu.<;hel, that i.s, SI 800, 

 the net profit being probably about ^1000. " Preseut prices for this baby 

 clam are high, the clammer sometimes receiving four dollars a bushel for 

 his catch, while one who orders them on the half shell at a lioston or Nt'w 

 York restaurant pays for them at the rate of fifty dollars a bushel." 

 Kklloog, Shellfish Indu.stries, p. 220 



2 Denuiri'er tiled in favor of Mytilus^ taken iu prime coiulitiitn aud fried 

 or roasted brown in cracker crumbs. To make a practical test anil settle 

 this controversy, have both scallops and nms.sels prepared alike and served 

 ftt a biology-cla.ss banquet. Decide by ballot at end of banquet, and print 

 result, with discussions that may arise, in local papers. 



