270 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



waters from generation to generation for centuries. This fact is perhaps more evident 

 in Chatham County, receiving the waters of the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers, than 

 elsewhere. Of the 384*7 acres surveyed and reported by Ensign Drake as natural 

 beds in Chatham County, nearly all are below low-water mark, and there are no ledges 

 now. nor have there been for years, to supply the spawn or the dropped-otf oysters. 



Ensign Drake indicated the location of a natural bed in the upper part of Tybee 

 River, reaching from shore to shore, where it is .'320 yards wide, and the nearest coon 

 oysters are on a small bed at my landing, about li miles below in Shads River. 

 The only oysters in the main channel of Savannah River are about 80 acres of natural 

 beds at its mouth, 900 yards from shore, and now being destroyed by the harbor 

 improvements, with no coon oysters in the vicinity. The lowest density at the mouth 

 at low water was 1*0090, and the mean of 29 observations at intervals of 4 hours was 

 1*0146, about the standard density. 



That the set is not now more abundant on the old oysters and dead shells of the 

 natural beds of Chatham County is attributable to the fact of their exhaustion and 

 of their uncleauliness. The normal shape of these single oysters of all ages and sizes 

 on the natural beds precludes the idea of coon origin. The river in South Carolina 

 which best illustrates the effect of fresh water upon the life of the oyster and best 

 proves the facts I have enumerated, is Xew River. It not only receives fresh water 

 from the Savannah River through Walls Cut, but it drains Great Swamp and during 

 every freshet the Savannah overflows into it through Great Swamp. 



Mr. John D. Battle, in his .survey of the coast waters of South Carolina, reports: 



The only raccoon oysters observed along the shores of New River are found between Ranishorn 

 Creek and the mouth of the. river, in narrow patches, about 10 feet wide, of dead shells and living 

 oysters, the former largely in excess, due in a manner to ov errishing in this limited area. 



Had the survey extended higher up the river than Ramshorn they would have 

 found some extensive, self-sustaining natural beds of single oysters in Tea Kettle 

 Creek in a depth of 14 to 20 feet, about 4 miles above these ledges, and there are no 

 coon oysters above Ramshorn. These beds supplied a part of the stock for the "Col- 

 ossus Brand," put up last year by the Gender Gyster Company, and a company located 

 at Beaufort, S. C, had previously also used a steam dredge upon them extensively. 



The Gemler Gyster Company planted 18,300 bushels of oysters in Wilmington River 

 below 8k.id.away Island. Four months previously it had planted 38,490 bushels 2£ 

 miles above this point in water of the same depth. Five miles still higher up, at 

 Thunderbolt, is, according to Ensign Drake, the upper limit of ground fit for oyster- 

 culture, on account of decreasing density, but here oysters, having grown naturally, 

 are now successfully cultivated in a depth of -'0 feet and over. The destruction of the 

 oysters of the Gender Gyster Company has increased with the increase of density 

 over the grounds, notwithstanding the lowest were put down 4 months later. 



In regard to the effect of floating and deposited silt, I will merely remark that it 

 is greatest in the fresher waters. The water is purer near the sea, and, in consequence 

 of the greater velocity of the current, the deposit is slighter. Exceptional cases of a 

 set and of a bed below low water may and do occur near the sea in water generally of 

 high density. Sometimes such a bed succumbs to adverse influences, after a few 

 years' existence, to become rehabilitated under a phenomenal influx of fresh water. 



The only case in Georgia of an oyster reef extending into the ocean occurs off the 

 northeast point of Little St. Simon Island, where Ensign Drake found the density 





