194 



THE OYSTER. 



In the absence of any records of the numbers of 

 oysters of various sizes in previous years, our table is 

 of no particular value, but we give it in full, in order 

 to facilitate the work of comparison in the future. 



The precise significance of this table cannot be under- 

 stood until similar examinations have been carried on 

 for a term of years, and at the same time in each year. 



It will be observed, however, that it shows a total of 

 20,390 large and medium oysters to only 11,848 small 

 ones. Four thousand of these small oysters were 

 taken at one time in Hooper's Strait, in a ' ' pocket ' 

 which had escaped the dredgers, and this haul should 

 be omitted in order to show a typical average. If we 

 leave it out we shall have 20,390 large and medium 

 oysters to 7848 small ones, or only a little more than 

 one small one to three marketable ones. It is very 

 probable that if all our examinations had been made 

 in the fall, the number of small oysters would have 

 been found much greater, and they are above the 

 average on the beds which we examined in November. 



Still the summary of the whole table shows that the 

 beds are losing their fecundity, and that the crop this 

 winter (183-1884) will be greater than it will be the 

 year after. 



The reasons for the small number of young oysters 

 we believe to be, in part, the scarcity of mature oysters 

 to furnish spawn; in part the wanton destruction of 

 great numbers of very young oysters through the vio- 

 lation of culling laws, and in part the absence of enough 



