3 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Theoretically, then, the dredging would 1. Extend the beds ; 2. 

 Destroy their fecundity by removing the brood-oysters and by destroy- 

 ing their progeny. Practically, has this been the case ? 



In the absence of previous surveys of the beds, the testimony of 

 the fishermen must be accepted with regard to the extension of area, 

 and the testimony was unanimous to that effect, some of the beds hav- 

 ing doubled in size during the last thirty years. The testimony was 

 also to the effect that all the beds in question had materially deterio- 

 rated, the general opinion being that, with the improved appliances 

 now in use, there could have been taken twenty-five years ago from 

 two to seven times as many oysters as at present ! But we are not 

 compelled to rely solely upon these statements. A comparison of the 

 results obtained from an investigation of newly discovered beds in the 

 Chesapeake Bay with those beds in the sounds that had long been sub- 

 jected to the dredging influence shows marked differences, and affords 

 more certain methods of proving the deterioration of old beds. In 

 1879 areas were discovered in the bay upon which oysters existed, and 

 the locality of which was known to but few of the fishermen ; the beds 

 were thus practically in a natural state. The following differences 

 were observed between them and the beds in the sounds : On the new 

 beds in the bay the oysters were generally found in clusters of from 

 three or four to twelve and fifteen ; the shells were clean and white, 

 and free from worms ; the spaces between the larger oysters were 

 filled with the young growth and barnacles ; usually the clusters had 

 a large tuft of red sponge attached to them, and sponges were very 

 plentiful over the beds ; the mature oysters were long and narrow, 

 with the lower valve very deep and bills very thin and sharp ; the ani- 

 mal itself was much larger and thinner than those of the same age on 

 the worked beds in the sounds ; and this last difference is probably 

 due to the difference of water and to the fact that, growing as they 

 do in clusters, food is not so readily obtained. The oysters taken 

 from a bed which has been worked for some time are usually single or 

 in clusters of two or three ; they are larger than the corresponding 

 class on the unworked beds that is, broader in comparison to their 

 length and of greater thickness ; the valves are blunt and thick about 

 the lips ; and the animal fatter and thicker than those of the same age 

 in the new beds. The shells are dirty, with much mud or sand cling- 

 ing to them. There is but little sponge attached to the shells ; but 

 they are covered with Avorms, and bored in many places by the boring 

 pholad ; and the older the bed and oysters, the larger the number of 

 worms and the less healthy is the appearance of the shell. 



The new beds were hard, and the clusters seemed more firmly at- 

 tached to the bottom, and required greater force to detach them than 

 was necessary on the beds in the sounds. There was comparatively 

 but a small number of broken shells, and the bottom was usually too 

 hard to be penetrated by an iron probe. The beds in the sounds were 



