138 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 



acres), have their in-shore limits located near the shore in water 

 as shallow as six feet. The off-shore boundaries of those 

 situated above the mouth of the Magothy River are limited by 

 a line 500 yards from the .center of the Craighill Channel. 

 Oysters grow nearer this channel than 500 yards, but dredging 

 for oysters nearer the channel than this is prohibited by law. 

 The off-shore boundary of Outer Magothy bar lies in water 

 varying in depth from six to thirty-five feet and that of Bay 

 Shore in depths of from twenty-five to thirty feet. 



Hard sandy bottoms characterize the parts of the bars which 

 lie near the shore, but very soft mud is found on the off-shore 

 areas of all. The oysters on the hard bottoms grow singly and 

 are fairly evenly distributed, but on the mud the oysters grow 

 in "lumps" and are bunchy. 



The oyster ground known as the "Lumps" although covering 

 a very large area, has in reality a comparatively small area of 

 oyster-producing bottom. It is lumpy throughout, the lumps 

 (patches of oysters) varying in size from a few square yards to 

 about fifteen acres. Between the lumps large areas of very 

 soft barren mud are found. The total area of oyster-bearing 

 bottom on the "Lumps" probably does not exceed 400 acres and 

 this is being gradually diminished by the deposit of a finely 

 divided ooze from the debris dredged from the Craighill Chan- 

 nel and dumped over the eastern section of the lumps. During 

 the survey empty shells and mud boxes were brought up at 

 several of the examination stations from several inches below 

 the surface of the bottom, the oysters having recently been 

 smothered by the deposited material. 



The velocity with which the water flows over the oyster bars 

 is shown in the table which follows : 



Bodkin Point bars 85 mile per hour. 



Mountain Point bar 81 " " " 



The Lumps bar 95 " " " 



Outer Magothy bar 28 " " " 



Bay Shore bar 24 to .92 mile per hour. 



The density of the water varied during the period covered by 

 the survey from 1.008 to 1.012 over the Bodkin Point bars and 

 the "Lumps" and from 1.010 to 1.012 over Bay Shore bar. Over 



