Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 197 



liter of water, but on account of the incompleteness of this 

 work, and for other reasons given further on, all results from 

 this line of investigation are withheld from this report. 



VALUE OF FOOD INVESTIGATIONS. 



The minute organisms, forming the food of the oyster, follow 

 the same laws of distribution observed to regulate that of 

 larger organisms such as fishes and land animals; different 

 species inhabit different regions and the individuals of one 

 species may be numerous in one locality at one time and be 

 almost totally lacking at another. Since the value of an oyster 

 ground depends very largely upon the supply of oyster food in 

 its immediate locality and upon the stability of this supply, it 

 is readily seen that any line of investigation which develops a 

 knowledge of the food value of the Chesapeake is valuable for 

 oyster culture. 



The number of oysters a given bottom will maintain depends 

 upon the amount of food available in the water and the ra- 

 pidity of the flow of the water. Some of the most valuable 

 oyster bottoms, such as those in Lynnhaven Bay, 55 will not 

 produce oysters in great quantities on account of the poor 

 feeding conditions of the locality, their special value depending 

 upon the shape and flavor of their product. If stocked with 

 a quantity of oysters above their capacity such grounds prove a 

 failure. 



It is- hoped and confidently believed that when a series of 

 investigations of the food supply of different localities of the 

 Chesapeake Bay, which are planned by the Commission, have 

 been carried out, covering a period of two or more years, the 

 Commission will be in a position to give fairly accurate esti- 

 mates, after careful examinations of barren bottoms, of their 

 special fitness for oyster culture, including the quantities of 

 oysters per acre they will maintain. 



No investigations of exactly this kind have ever been made 

 and they may be found less practicable than appears, but they 



best grounds in Lynnhaven Bay will support but 150 bushels 

 of oysters per acre and much of the bottom will support but 50 bushels 

 per acre. 



