Diane Kreitz, age 11, of Spokane, Washington, for her question:

 What in the world is a quahog?

No, the quahog is not related to the pig family. It is a salt water mollusk, better known as a clam. A wide variety of clams enjoy life in offshore waters around the world. Some types prefer our Pacific shores, others prefer our Atlantic coasts. A search in the Mississippi mud could turn up 500 different species of fresh water clam. The quahog is one of many hard shelled clams that thrive in the Atlantic from Texas to Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence. Easterners boast of the supreme flavor :of its tender meat and claim that the best quahogs are found off New England's Cape Cod. A big specimen may be five inches wide and two inches thick.

The Algonquin Indians had a long, unpronounceable name for the quahog. The New England settlers borrowed this word, condensed it to the six letters of quahog and pronounced it kcaor hog. The creature's thick shells are lined with pearly layers of nacre. The Indians cherished this nacre as highly as the tender meat. They worked quahog shells into small beads and used them as money called wampum.