‘> 
ee Nee rius. 
VOL. VIII. JUNE, 1894. No. 
to 
UROSALPINX CINEREUS IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 
ROBT. E. C. STEARNS. 
The Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries 
1889-91 just published (March, 1893), contains an interesting and 
valuable paper by Mr. Charles H. Townsend of the AJ/batross on 
“The Oyster Resources and Oyster Fishery of the Pacific Coast,” 
etc., etc. in which he mentions the occurrence of Urosalpina cine- 
reus (—=Fusus cinereus Say) on the beds of transplanted Eastern 
oysters near Belmont. It appears that this species, the “drill” of 
the oystermen, “has not become troublesome until very recently, and 
even now is abundant only in the southern part of the Bay. 
“Atthe Belmont beds I had no difficulty in gathering a quart 
of these mollusks, in less than ten minutes, by merely turning over 
the large oysters when the water had receded from the beds. 
* * x x x * x * x 
“ This destructive animal may have been introduced much earlier 
than the oyster-men suppose, as a few individuals accidentally 
imported among the original oysters would require several vears to 
increase to the present numbers.” They had not at the time of Mr. 
Townsend’s investigation, been detected on the oyster beds at Mill- 
brae, which are much nearer the sea. 
This is the second form that has incidentally been introduced 
with the oysters from the Atlantic seaboard, Mya arenaria being the 
first ; the latter has already become abundant, and therefore a val- 
