288 REPORT OP 'COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



valve is flat, and the beak short and bent over. The surface of the 

 shell is very irregular, and formed of laminae of a greenish color, dis- 

 posed without order. Its edges, more or less jagged and scalloped, are 

 calcareous in the lower valve, while in the upper they are flexible, and 

 seem to be membranous in nature. The muscular impression is of a 

 deep violet color, and the interior of the valves of a chalky white, or 

 light green. The lower valve is deeper than that of the Virginia 

 species. Some specimens are a foot in length, by six inches in 

 width. This oyster is commonly known as the New York oyster, as it 

 is found in considerable numbers in that bay. It is found all along the 

 coast, and even in the Chesapeake, were it is mixed with the principal 

 species. It is frequently taken in Buzzard's Bay, (Massachusetts.) 



The Canadian oyster. — The Canadian oyster, also less elongated than 

 that of Virginia, is generally crooked, with the beak rounded. The 

 shell is wide, expanded, very white, and laminiferous. The upper valve 

 is slightly convex. It is common on the Canadian shore, at the mouth of 

 the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, as well as upon certain parts of the coast 

 of the United States, particularly in the latitude of New York. 



The American oyster, without distinction of species, exists in such 

 profusion that it seems to be gathered as plenteously as manna was in 

 the exodus of Israel. From the British provinces to the Gulf of Mexico 

 it constitutes inexhaustible banks, which in certain localities, were it not 

 for the constant fisheries, would form reefs, modify currents, obstruct 

 channels — in a word, interfere greatly with navigation. Abundant on 

 every part of the coast, nevertheless some latitudes seem specially to 

 suit it. Such are the shores of New Jersey, of Long Island, of Con- 

 necticut, of Rhode Island, of the mouth of fehe Delaware, and, above all, 

 the magnificent bay of Chesapeake, a regular magazine of abundance, 

 where every year vessels are loaded with the precious mollusks, and 

 transported to all parts of the coast. 



North Carolina, Albemarle, and Pamlico Sounds also produce excel- 

 lent oysters.* 



The Americans, pre-eminently practical in all that concerns the ma- 

 terial interests of life, have not neglected this great source of wealth. 

 They realized, at a very early period, the great advantage which might 

 be derived from so much alimentary substance, obtained almost without 

 expense ; and the oyster-fisheries, with their culture, have been, with 

 them, fbr a long time, lucrative industries, becoming $5ch day more 

 extensive, in order to supply the demands of the ever-increasing number 

 of consumers. 



Disregarding the methods of culture adopted in Europe, they have 



* The enormous multiplication of this species has, for a long time, attracted the attenr 

 tion of philosophers and naturalists, many of whom, in view of this incessant produc- 

 tion of the mineral matter composing the shells, are of the opinion that most of the 

 calcareous deposits have no other origin. Like the polyps of the Indian Ocean, this 

 mollusk, if left to itself, would change the hydrography of coasts. 



