l6 . NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



to the high tide line, marking them by labeled wires which were 

 run down out of sight. These I easily found in the winter, but some 

 of the beds had been raked clean. Others certainly escaped ob- 

 servation. Before planting, the ground was raked, that I might 

 be assured that no little-neck clams were present in it. I am very 

 positive that the beds and sealed wire cages on the oyster ground 

 had not been touched when they were examined after an interval 

 of six months. 



But the unfavorable conditions were these. Everywhere above 

 and below these beds, oysters covered the bottoms as close as they 

 could lie. They take from the water the same floating organisms 

 which Venus uses for its food. Everywhere, too, above and below 

 low tide line, soft clams were burrowed almost as close as they 

 could be placed. They also use the same food. Now, we have 

 experimental evidence to show that the growth of all these forms 

 is, up to a certain point, directly proportionate to the amount of 

 food. They all grew here; for, on account of the conditions of the 

 upper harbor, where at high tide the shallow water, fed by fresh- 

 water streams, was warmed for hours by the sun, diatoms must 

 have multiplied with great rapidity, and, when carried out, 

 offered abundant food. But undoubtedly none of these lamelH- 

 branchs grew as they would if the life of the bottom had not been 

 so abundant. 



As an example of the number of these organisms on the bot- 

 tom, this case may be cited. A flowerpot, 4 inches across the top, 

 filled with clean sand, was sunk nearly to the level of the ground 

 on June 19, 1901. In it was placed a little-neck clam. When 

 examined Dec. 28 of the same year — six months afterward — the 

 sand in this pot contained 11 soft-shelled clams ranging from half 

 to three quarters of an inch in length, besides the hard clam, which 

 had increased considerably in size. These soft clams had settled 

 in the pot from the swimming larval condition, as they settled 

 elsewhere on the bottom, and had begun to grow. It is most 

 reasonable to suppose that, if this hard clam had been growing on 

 almost any beach where less life was being supported, its growth 

 would have been more rapid, for diatoms are more or less abund- 

 ant all along the shore. 



