THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
Vor. xx—DECEMBER, 1886.—No. 12. 
THE SCALLOP AND ITS FISHERY, 
BY ERNEST INGERSOLL. 
} Tioucs it had long previously been enjoyed by the shore- 
towns in New England, the introduction of the scallop as an 
edible into the New York markets is as recent as 1858 or ’59. 
Now the annual product of the fishery, which is restricted in area 
and subject to much variation, amounts to something like 75,000 
gallons in all, worth from twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars 
at first cost; and New York receives and dispenses about three- 
fourths, ) 
The species of scallop in question is Pecten irradians, which is 
common in suitable places all along our coast. Besides this there 
are half a dozen other varieties, living at more or less depths, in _ 
the western Atlantic, one of which, the great Pecten tenuicostatus 
of the coast of Maine and the Bay ot Fundy, was formerly highly ` 
= Valued by the people of that region, but now is too scarce to ap- 
_ Pear on the tables of even “the rich” except at rare intervals, 
1 The fishery and methods of preparation for market of our scal- 
lops present several features of general interest, and I believe that 
_ i my study of the matter, a few years ago, as an agent of the 
| Census Bureau, I was able to learn some new and suggestive 
= Particulars as to the habits of the mollusk. 
Though Occurring in a scattered way far to the northward, it is 
only between Cape Cod and New Jersey that any commercial 
2 Scallop-fishery exists, save at a few points on the Southern coast, 
_ 4S at Morehead City, N. C., for a small local trade. Even along 
_ this limited extent the fishing is not continuous, but can be fol- 
lowed with regularity only in restricted areas of Buzzard’s bay, 
Mass., Narragansett bay, R. I, in Peconic bay at the eastern 
_ VOL. XX—NO. XII. 67 
