824 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



Marsh Bed were very few, and the mass of shells immense, 

 fgj affording ample surface for the attachment of the drift- 

 ing " spat," should there be any. 



But supposing the oysters on the beds to have been 

 so much diminished that they were not sufficient for mutual 

 fecundation, the distance and situation of other beds is such 

 as to prevent the current from bringing the products of 

 generation voided on them to the Muddy Marsh Rocks, 

 and there would be, as was noticed, an almost entire failure 

 of young. In the same manner, though in less degree, would 

 the other beds suffer, the amount of spawn voided depending 

 not only upon the number of mature " brood" oysters, but 

 upon their distance from each other, and the spaces 

 separating the beds. This theory is supported by the 

 investigations that have been made in England, France, 

 and Prussia, and almost all opinions coincide that the 

 number of young in any spatting season is dependent 

 upon the number of " brood " oysters upon the beds. 

 Indeed, it seems so self-evident a proposition that it is 

 hardly worth while to experimentally establish it. 



(g) To give some idea of this, I quote Lieutenant Winslow's state- 

 ment (or rather the concluding part of it) relating to the dredging of 

 the bed in question : " The oysters on the bed and from its vicinity 

 were of medium size and fair quality, single, and very scarce. Very 

 few young, no young growth nor drills, and no sponge, grass, or parasitic 

 attachments of any kind were found, but an immense amount of broken 

 shell and other debris was brought up by each haul of the dredge. On 

 one occasion the dredge filled in three minutes ; shells and one oyster 

 resulted. A similar haul produced a dredge full of shells and five 

 oysters. As the dredge held about two bushels, the percentage of 

 debris is thus shown to be enormous. The hauls were made on the 

 shoal, solid portion of the bed, where, according to most experience, 

 the oysters should have been most numerous." Report for 1881, p. 35. 



