By K. E. C. STEARNS.

356 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES

FISH COMMISSION.

with

Van

_Tieghem, that allplants are carnivorous,

and we add

that it

cannot be otherwise, ^for

how

could

we

in

any

^other

way

explain the various transformations

and

the infinite changes^{of matter}which con- stitutethe marvelous equilibrium of nature^?

119.—

NOTE ON THE l!LAM8 OF THE PACIFIC COAST.

By ^K.

^{E. C.}

STEARNS.

[Letterto Prof. S.F. Baird.]

Ihave

examined

the

box

ofclams which_just

came

to

hand

fromDon- aldMacleay,esq.,president ^of theboard of trade of Portland, Oreg.

Mr. Macleay ^{states that} they ^{are the}Eastern _clams,

and

found at Shoalwater Bay,

Washington

Territory, which iscorrect as to their original (indirectly)

and

_present habitat. I

was

awareof the presence of these clams atthe_localitygiven

by

Mr. Macleay,

some months

_ago,

and

it

would

bewiseto put ^thematter on record. Captain Simpson, apublic-spirited citizenof

San

Francisco, of the^{firm of}Simpson^Broth-

ers, extensively engaged ^inthe

lumber

_{trade, employinga great}

many

vessels in their business, informed

me

thathe

had

atone time _(orat various _times) sent

up

^{the coast}

by

^their captains a quantity of

Mya

armariaforplanting ⁱⁿ Shoalwater Bay,

and

_{it, Mya,}

had

_multiplied wonderfully, and

now

_(at the time of our conversation,

May,

1884) this clam

was

abundant there.

The

clams _planted

by

^{the directionof}Cap- tain

Simpson

^wereobtained

by him

ⁱⁿ

San

_Francisco,

where Mya ^now

"rules the roost," ^its increase in

San

Francisco

Bay ^and

^excellent

quality having nearly superseded the native clams, Tapes(or Cuneus)

and Macoma;

^thelatterbeing

now

seldom seenonthestallsofthe fish-

markets.

Mya

armaria,^{as I}haveheretofore _stated,*

was

first detected on the eastern shore of

San

Francisco Bay,in 1874,

by Henry

Hemphill,

who

collected

some

rather small

and somewhat

delicate specimens. These heturned over toDr.

Wesley Kewcomb,

^{then of} Oakland,Cal.,for ex- amination. Dr.

Newcomb

regarded

them

as a

new

_species which he described as

Mya

hemphilliiA

The

_largestspecimen found^atthattime by^Dr.Hemphill

was

scarcely two-thirds the ^sizeoftheaverage^ofthose

now

on themarketstalls.

Followingthe completion of the transcontinental ^railroad about the year 1869-'70,

some

ofthe oyster^{firms in}

San

Francisco

commenced

im- porting small oysters, Ostrea _virpiniea, from the Atlantic side by ^the car-load forplantingⁱⁿ

San

FranciscoBay, where^{inaseason orso}they attain a good merchantablesize,

and become

exceedingly^fat

and

offine fineflavor.

With

these importations ^of small_oysters, the spat of

Mya

*AmericanNaturalist,May, ^1881.

tProc. Cal.Acad._Sciences,November,^1874.

BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES

FISH COMMISSION.

357

undoubtedly was accidentally and incidentally introduced to the w<

coast.

In 1881 Dr. Anderson, ^of Santa Cruz _(a1 the head of Monterey Bay), sent

me

_specimensfromsaid _locality, wherehe foundthem at the mouth of a_lagoon. These were rather under size. ^It [Mya) was _{quite likely} placed ^{atthis laststation} by sonic of the "shell-fish" dealers of Santa Cruz.

An

examination of

many

^ofthe

^mounds

^{and shell} heaps(kitchen- middens) on the shores of San Francisco Bay and ^the adjacent region, has_{as yet}tailedtoreveala_fragment of the shellsof.Mya arenaria,though theremainsofTapes (Cuneus),Macoma, Mytilus, Cardinal,&c.,are abun- dant,

common,

^oroccasional,in proportions which

may

be intoned from the orderin which 1 have _placed

them

above.

National Museum,

Washington, ^I).

C,

February7, 1885.

120.— IHEITIOKAIVDi;;?! OIV

WATER RESIDUES

IKOII (

OIMIAK line STATION AT WOOD'S

HOLIi.

By

^{Dr. J. II.}

KIDDER.

•Theresidueswere received

December

_5, 1884.

A.

"From

receiving-tank ⁱⁿ hatching-room," about ^{1 liter} of water, copiousblack,ropy,andflocculent residue; supernatant liquid,yellowish milky. Mixture has decomposed by standing, with development ^{of a} bulkyblack fungus.

No

sulphnreted hydrogen.

B.

"From

oneof the apparatusesⁱⁿ which eggs ^are placed" about ⁴ ounces heavyreddish-yellow sediment; supernatant liquid, clear.

Partial analysis of the dried residue results as follows:

l'crcent.

A. Blackens on _ignition(organic and volatile matters)and

loses ^17.74

Incombustible residue(redpowder) ^82.26

Total 100.""

B. Blackenson_ignitionandloses 24.214

Incombustible residue(redpowder) ^75.786

Total 100.000

The

loss on_ignition ^ismostly organic ^matter.

Of

_inorganic constituents there have been detected: Chlorine,^sul- phuric acid, calcium, magnesium,^silica, alumina _(day), and sesqnioxide of_iron; the^lastthree

named

constitutingthe_greaterpart ofthe incom- bustible residue.

Smithsonian

Institution,

Washington, D. C, January ^{1<5, 1886.}