REPORT OF DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1900 rl95 



being personally inspected, and it appeared that this part of the 

 coast had always been extremely prolific in the production of 

 soft clams and scallops. In certain localities hard clams had 

 also been taken in great numbers. Specially notable for their 

 resources were the " Springs '' and Napeague harbor. It was, 

 however, almost universally admitted that the last two years had 

 witnessed a great diminution in the supply over the whole area. 



Shinnecock Hills w-as next visited. Shinnecock bay at one 

 l^ime produced a good supply of soft clams. Some time ago these 

 almost entirely disappeared. On the seaw^ard side of the long 

 southern sand spit conditions are not favorable for the growth 

 of clams and scallops. 



To the w^estward, at Moriches, it was found that Moriches bay 

 had never produced many clams. Being much shut in from the 

 ocean, tidal currents which supply food for these forms are very 

 little felt. 



On the Great South bay, Patchogue, Bayport, Sayville, Oak- 

 dale, Islip, Bayshore, Babylon, Lindenhurst, Amityville, Massa- 

 pequa, Wautagh and Freeport were successively visited. At 

 Patchogue, a great oyster center, a few hard clams were mar- 

 keted. Opposite the inlets at the western end of the bay, how- 

 ever, they were much more numerous. For a number of years,! 

 Islip was the great center of the hard clam or little-neck indus- 

 try, hundreds of bushels of these being marketed every day for 

 the greater part of the year. In fact, in the greater part of the 

 bay the hard clam industry reigned supreme. They were taken 

 in great numbers as far west as Freeport. Along the shore of 

 this bay, it was found that the hard clam industry had become 

 almost extinct within the last two or three years. 



Passing w-estw^ard to Rockaway beach and the vicinity of 

 Jamaica bay, the testimony of the residents indicated that this 

 body of water with its extensive flats still supported a great num- 

 ber of clams, specially the soft clams. For lack of time this 

 interesting and important bay was not explored as carefully as 

 was desirable. Though it was asserted by some of the clam- 

 diggers, that the supply was suffering a marked decrease, this 



