<6l4 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



ing inlets here and there at rare intervals. In many parts of these 

 bays the hard clam, or little-neck, was formerly very abundant, as 

 will be shown presently, but, because there is very little tide, beaches 

 and flats are not enough exposed to allow the digging of the soft 

 clam. It is known that in some places this form lives below the low 

 tide mark. There are such beds in the Great south bay, but, as the 

 creatures are burrowed into the bottom from six to 12 inches, and 

 even deeper, their capture under water becomes a laborious process, 

 and is seldom resorted to. In Shinnecock, Moriches and Great 

 South bays, then, comparatively few of the soft, or long-neck, clams 

 are dug for market, though more of these forms than is ordinarily 

 supposed may exist in the mud below the low water mark. 



There is one locality on the south side of the island where M y a 

 is apparently abundant, and is dug in great numbers. That is 

 Jamaica bay, with its shallow water, and its relatively great rise and 

 fall of tide, which alternately covers and exposes a large area of 

 mud flats. Unfortunately, lack of time prevented a thorough ex- 

 amination of this bay. Many residents of its shores agree in stat- 

 ing that it contains an abundant supply of soft clams, many of which 

 are sent to the New York markets, eight or 10 miles away. It is 

 said that there are places on the flats where it is possible for a man 

 to dig five or six bushels in a fair low tide. Assertions of this kind 

 should be carefully verified before being accepted. 



This bay, situated at the door of the New York market, a bay 

 with extensive flats and rapid currents, affording most favorable 

 conditions for the growth of clams, seems to be a very valuable 

 property; and if the few reports we have about it are true, it 

 should be carefully guarded and protected against that depletion and 

 ruin which comes from excessive digging, and which has recently 

 visited similar and equally extensive flats. Because the supply has 

 apparently continued till now, and may seem to be inexhaustible, 

 there is no reason why the beds may not become as barren as those 

 at Duxbury and at Essex in Massachusetts. At one time in the 

 latter town, 100 men steadily obtained from $2 to $5 a day by 

 digging the soft clam. Today there are not 10 men engaged in 

 the work, and, with a greatly increased price for the product, they 



