6lO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



that the record of the market does not indicate in advance just when 

 that evil day shall appear. 



It is true, however, that the demand for clams and scallops has 

 been increasing steadily for many years. To our personal knowl- 

 edge, several towns and smaller cities in the Mississippi valley which 

 formerly consumed a small number of canned clams, have more 

 recently demanded, during the winter months, larger and larger 

 quantities, not only in cans, but also in the shell. The demand has 

 grown rapidly in recent years with the knowledge of their value as 

 a food. Even scallops, sold fresh in bulk, are finding a market 

 farther and farther from the shore. 



From the fact, then, that the soft clam has been steadily de- 

 manded in increasing numbers for some time past, the following 

 tables will be instructive. They indicate the market supply to 1892, 

 and are taken from the report of the United States fish commis- 

 sioner for 1894. Tlie item referring to the supply from Rhode 

 Island in 1898 is taken from a paper by Dr A. D. Mead in the 13th 

 annual report of the commissioners of inland fisheries of Rhode 

 Island. The interesting figures covering the Elaine supply for 1898 

 were recently received from the able commissioner of sea and shore 

 fisheries, Mr A. R. Xickerson. They show an enormous increase 

 in the supply over any previous year of which we have any record, 

 and thus show that the previous figures gave no adequate idea of 

 the actual supply. Many factors enter into the explanation of this 

 increase in the number of clams marketed, the most important of 

 which is the fact that the sudden decrease in the supply from other 

 New England states left Maine alone to answer the demands of the 

 general market. That her clam beds are already suffering from 

 the enormous drain is shown by the fact above mentioned, that in 

 1899 her legislature passed an act prohibiting the sale of clams in 

 any form from June i to Sep. 15 in each year. 



Emphasis must be laid on the fact that these figures do not really 

 indicate the abundance of clams on the beds at any time. With- 

 out the figures of the Maine supply for 1898, we should get an 

 entirely erroneous idea of the conditions in that state. The sales in 

 Massachusetts and Connecticut since 1892 would undoubtedly show 



