BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 215 



ineut at Schleswig to start oyster beds 011 its east coast. By a special 

 agreement made in March, 1882, the provincial government, with the 

 consent of the minister of agriculture, granted this company the privi- 

 lege of establishing and nsiDg oyster-beds for forty years, within certain 

 limits. During the winter of 1879-'80, Meyer went to America, and 

 brought thence 1,250„000 spat and 5,000 large oysters, which, in quan- 

 tities of 5,000 to 150,000, he placed at ten different points in the Little 

 Belt, from Knudshoved, near the Danish frontier, as far south as the 

 island of Barso, in the Bay of Gjenner. 



Through the kindness of the managers of this enterprise I have twice 

 been enabled to participate in the examination of these artificial oyster- 

 beds— in August, 1880, and September, 1882. In some places nothing 

 was found but empty oyster-shells, and in others, besides empty shells, 

 also living oysters. In those placss where the result was most unfav- 

 orable, the bottom was either covered with quicksand or with dense 

 masses of dead sea-grass. The best result was obtained south and south- 

 east of the island of Aaro,onfirm, sandy, or stony bottom, free from plants. 

 According to a communication from Hadersleben, dated some time in 

 March (1883), many of the oysters placed in the Little Belt are still 

 alive. They have, therefore, lived in the Baltic through three winters, 

 which, however, does not imply that the experiment of acclimatizing 

 the American oyster in the Baltic has been a complete success, for this 

 would require that they also propagate iu the Baltic from one genera- 

 tion to the other. 



The first time I examined the beds, in August, 1880, I found in the 

 shell of one of the older American oysters a very small live young oyster, 

 which had probably been born in Europe. In September, 1882, 1 could 

 not discover any signs of propagation. Although this does not show 

 conclusively that the American oyster is not able to propagate in the 

 Baltic, there is, on the other hand, nothing whatever to prove that the 

 American oysters placed in the Baltic will propagate and ultimately 

 form regular oyster-beds. These circumstances induced me to inquire 

 for the causes of their probable barrenness. The shells of the oysters 

 had increased considerably in size as early as August, 1880 ; they must, 

 therefore, have taken and assimilated a certain quantity of food, suffi- 

 cient to form new matter for the shell. But none of the oysters which 

 I opened in August, 1880, and September, 1882, had that healthy ap- 

 pearance, which in the Schleswig oysters is termed fatness, and which 

 is caused by the well-developed sexual glands. On the contrary, they 

 were all thin and watery, like old and barren European oysters. 



I thought that possibly the saltness and temperature of the Little 

 Belt were not suitable for the healthy development of all the organs of 

 the American oyster, and especially not for the growth of mature eggs. 



Unfortunately we know but little regarding the saltness and temper- 

 ature of the American oyster beds. The only data which we possess 

 we received from Prof. G. Brown Goode, in Washington, in answer to 



