966 American Work on Kecent Mollusca in 188 1. [December, 



fashion, the manufacture of these shells is very large. In this 

 country the work is largely done in Philadelphia and New York. 

 A considerable quantity of the shells are shipped to France ; of the 

 more solid and perfect shells, solid buttons are made, the refuse is 

 ground up and mixed with cement which is molded into buttons, 

 which display in their substance myriads of brilliant particles. 

 The compound may be more conveniently and artistically treated 

 than the solid shell itself, as well as at less cost. 



An account of" Pearl diving (for Margaritiphora calif ornica Cpr.) 

 in the Gulf of California" taken from the " Youth's Companion" 

 appears in the San Francisco Bulletin for Nov. 9th, 1S81. Two or 

 three tons of fresh shells were obtained per day when weather 

 permitted. They were allowed to die before being searched for 

 pearls. The locality was called Bonita bay, being about fifty 

 miles north of Loreto. The water was forty feet deep and only 

 about one shell in one thousand contained a valuable pearl. 

 Sharks and squids rendered diving (in a suit of rubber armor) ex- 

 citing, if not dangerous. 



Eleven thousand bushels of clams [Venus mercenaria L.) were 

 sent to market by the fishermen of East Hampton, Long Island, 

 N. Y.,in 1881. 



In the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission (1. p. 

 21, Apr. 13th, 188 1) Mr. John A. Ryder prints an extract from a 

 letter to Mr. Tryon, by Henry Hemphill, calling attention to the < 

 valuable qualities of Glycimeris generosa Gould, as a food mol- 

 lusk. It is found at Olympia, Washington Territory, and is said 

 to resemble " scrambled eggs " in taste. They are called " Geo- 

 ducks" by the urchins of Olympia, and " Kwenuks " by the In- 

 dians. The Fish Commission is investigating the question of 

 transplanting these valuable mollusks to the east coast of the 

 United States. In the same publication (pp. 200-201) with the 

 title of "On the habits and distribution of the Geoduck," etc., 

 is printed a letter from Hemphill on the same subject, in which 

 he mentions that a large specimen will afford a pound of delicious 

 flesh for food. They burrow very deeply into the sand, how- 

 ever, and do not come much above extreme low tide limits, so 

 that it is not easy or convenient to get at them except at low 

 spring tides. On the other hand, they are said to be finer eating 

 than any other mollusk, not excepting the oyster. 



At a recent meeting of the Harbor Commissioners in San 



