OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 8oi 



Owing to the rapid change of reading when the 

 thermometers were moved through strata of different 

 temperature, the observations are only reliable when the 

 temperatures of the air, surface and bottom water were 

 identical. 



NAMES AND AREAS. 



In naming and describing the beds I have used the 

 local names given them by the oystermen. The term 

 " rock ' : is with them synonymous with "bed," as they 

 regard only the solid portions of the area covered by the 

 oysters. In the following pages the term "rock" indi- 

 cates the solid, or approximately solid, portions of the bed. 

 Areas are given in feet and miles. When the latter unit is 

 used it is the nautical mile of 6080 feet, and not the statute 

 mile. 



OYSTER BEDS OF THE JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 



* 



The examination of these beds was a very hurried one, 

 and the delineation must be regarded as merely approxi- 

 mate, being the result of a hasty reconnaissance. 



. . . . Below Deep Water Light the beds of any 

 consequence are twelve in number, and of a total area 

 (approximate) of 10.4 square miles. Taking them in order 

 from Deep Water Light to Hampton Roads, they are the 

 Mulberry Point Bed, Point of Shoals Bed, Jail Island Bed, 

 Blunt Point Bed, White Shoal Bed, Thomas's Point Bed, 

 Kettle Hole Bed, Brown Shoal Bed, Bally Smash Bed, 

 Naseway Shoal Bed, Cruiser's Bed, and the Nasemond 

 Ridge Bed. 



. . . . In order to determine whether the salt 

 water over the beds in the river, and especially over the 

 Mulberry Point, Point of Shoals, and Jail Island Beds, was 

 displaced by the fresh water of the spring ebbs, specimens 



of water were obtained at every two fathoms of depth, on 



AA 



