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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
Station on Craney Island, Norfolk, Ya., 3 and at the United States Fisheries Biological 
Station, Beaufort, N. C. 
The aims of the research were to study the life history, habits, and migrations of 
the oyster drill and to make recommendations of measures that would either eli min ate 
the animal or so reduce its numbers as to make it a negligible factor in the oyster 
industry. 
Since it was impossible to make a study of the complete life history of the drill, 
the work was necessarily limited to the following fields: A survey was made in 
Hampton Roads in which salinity, temperature, pH, and character of bottom were 
studied; and the salinity data were corroborated by a study of the salinity death 
point in the laboratory. Since in a study aiming at the control of a species it is of 
prime importance to know the extent, direction, and periodicity of its migrations, 
the movements of tagged drills were studied. Other problems studied were: The 
effect of temperature on the activities of the animal, its feeding and breeding habits, 
and its tropistic behavior. Whenever possible field observations were checked by 
laboratory experiments under controlled conditions. 
NATURAL HISTORY OF UROSALPINX CINEREA, SAY 
DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES 
The fusiform, longitudinally ribbed, and spirally striated shell of Urosalpinx 
cinerea is usually greyish yellow, light brown, or occasionally white in color. The 
aperture varies from light flesh to dark salmon, chocolate, or purple and possesses a 
comparatively short canal. The outer lip of the aperture is dentate; the operculum 
is semicordate with its nucleus at the outer edge or a little below the middle. In 
Chesapeake Bay the shells generally range between 21 to 25 millimeters in length 
(Federighi, 1930), and as in other gastropods (Tryon, 1880; Cooke, 1895; Dimon, 
1905; Pelseneer, 1906) the females attain greater length than the males. The largest 
female, found in Chesapeake Bay, measured 33 millimeters in length, the largest 
male 29 millimeters. Aside from this rather general characteristic there is no 
distinguishing feature between the sexes. 
The body of the animal is small; the foot scarcely covering the aperture and 
only very little dilated at the front angles. It is cream-colored, margined with 
lemon color beneath, and punctuated with light drab above. The siphon extends 
just beyond the canal. The head is scarcely protruded with tentacles united at the 
origin, and at the filamentous and contractile outer third of the tentacles are located 
the black eyes. 
RANGE AND OCCURRENCE 
Urosalpinx cinerea, the oyster drill, is commonly reported as inhabiting the 
marine and brackish waters of the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida (Verrill, 
1873; Tryon, 1880; Churchill, 1921). It has been collected in San Francisco Bay, 
carried there in the shipment of eastern oysters (Rathbun, 1892; Townsend, 1893; 
Dali, 1907-1909); in Bermuda (Arey and Crozier, 1919); only sparingly on the 
Gulf coast (Moore, 1898, 1906; Ruge, 1898); and recently (Orton, 1927; Orton and 
Winckworth, 1928) it has been reported from England. 
The Eastern Shore of Virginia has beeit infested with this gastropod for many 
years (Uhler, 1879-80; Ryder, 1883; Henderson and Bartsch, 1915), and in 1908 
1 The author wishes here to express his thanks for the help and hospitality shown him by the U. S. Public Health Service and 
sspecially to Dr. H. E. Hasseltine and Dr. C. E. Waller, also to all others who contributed in making the work possible. 
