704 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



as thorough as possible. It was thus brought to light that 

 really, wherever the stone works alluded to stood out on 

 the sea bottom, which at those localities rapidly sloped 

 down towards deeper water, there was a more or less 

 numerous, at some spots even a very profuse crop of 

 oysters of all ages, which, in consequence of the regulations 

 above mentioned, had never been disturbed, and bore the 

 evident traces of this. When at a few localities no oysters 

 were found on the submarine stone-works, it was to be 

 ascribed to these having been newly constructed or repaired, 

 or to their having been covered over with sediment. 



The results of these diving operations were mapped 

 out, and are shown in the diagrams I have before me. The 

 long band-like patches of oysters follow the stone-works, 

 and both to seaward and towards the land, where a muddy 

 bottom is prevalent in their immediate vicinity, no oysters 

 occur. 



The localities that have hitherto been thus investigated 

 are shown in this map, and I may fairly infer that the 

 continuation of our researches with the diving apparatus 

 which are contemplated also in this summer, will enable 

 us to trace the confines of this natural oyster-bed with 

 precision. 



It is hardly doubted by any of us, nor by the profes- 

 sional oyster-culturists themselves, who have a more direct 

 interest in the productivity of the eastern Schelde, that 

 here, indeed, we have before us the principal source from 

 whence the spat is yearly, for the greater part, derived, 

 and everybody appears to be anxious to maintain the 

 present state of things, and to have the prohibitory clause 

 against fishing within the 500 meter area most strictly 

 observed. 



