THE CLAM FISHERIES. 581 



'Iliis shows that New York City absorbs four-fifths of all the scallops caught ou our coast, which, 

 so far as this investigation goes, aggregate as follows : 



Gallons of meats. 



Buzzard's Bay 6,400 



Colt's Biver 6,000 



Rhode Island 20,000 



Long Island 32,163 



New Jersey and southward 7,500 



Total 72,063 



Value, at 40 cents per gallon, $28,825.20. 



3. THE CLAM FISHERIES. 



1. THE PRINCIPAL SPECIES OF AMERICAN CLAMS USED FOR FOOD. 



The '' clams " of commerce in the United States are of various species, differing widely in all 

 features except the single quality of being edible bivalves. This permits the including of nearly 

 all the double-shelled mollusks. The list, enumerating those most commonly used, is as follows: 



ATLANTIC COAST. 



Mya arenaria. Soft clam. 

 Venus mercenaria. Quahang or hard clam. 

 Mactra solidissima. Surf or sea clam. 

 Cyprina ixlandica. False quahaug. 

 Callista gi/antea. Painted clam. 

 Gnathodon cuneatus. Cuneata clam. 



PACIFIC COAST. 



Pachyderma crassatelloiden. Hen clam. 

 Saxidomus aratus. Round clam. 

 Chione succincta. Little neck clam. 

 Mactra falcata. Western surf claiu. 

 Schizothtcrus nuttalli. Gapers. 

 Macoma nasuta. Tellens. 

 Semele decisa. Flat clam. 



It is my purpose to treat of these separately, since the circumstances of their distribution, 

 gathering, and sale favor it, and 1 will begin with that most important, probably, to the Atlantic 

 coast, the clam, par excellence. 



(a) FISHERY FOB SOFT CILAMS. 

 2. NATURAL HISTORY OF MYA ARENARIA. 



The common names of Mya arenaria arc numerous. North of Cape Cod it is simply the "clam," 

 distinguished, if at all, by the name "soft clam." In Long Island Sound and at New York it is 

 most spoken of as the " long clam " and " squirt clam." English books and people call it the 

 " sand- gaper," the "old maid," &c. 



A moist and muddy clam is not altogether an attractive object. Yet there is much about it 



