18 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



previous half century. All investigators are agreed that only a small 

 fraction of one per cent, of the total number of eggs produced by oysters 

 under natural conditions, ever, even when those are favorable, attain 

 a size large enough so make it an object to carry them to market. 

 While Professor Huxley may be right in the opinion expressed in his 

 recent address before the Royal Institution, 11th May last, that it would 

 be ditficult to prove that overdredging is accountable for the whole- 

 sale destruction of oyster beds, I cannot but believe that it has been, 

 to some if not to a great extent, responsible for the diminished product- 

 iveness of the beds of our native species in its natural home, the Chesa- 

 peake Bay and its tributaries. If the oyster embryos survived in a 

 uniform proportion to the number of adults existing during any and 

 every season, then dredging and overfishing would necessarily have 

 their eifects, but we have the best of reasons for believing that the pro- 

 portion of young to old oysters during different seasons is variable, so 

 that in some years there is a much greater yield of spat than in others. 

 Professor Huxley, while he is bound to admit that the oyster beds of 

 Europe are less productive than formerly, however believes, after all, 

 that there is hope for oyster consumers, and that artificial propagation 

 may yet be successfully carried on. Here is what he said : "I for ray 

 part believe that the only hope for the oyster consumer lies first in 

 oyster culture, and secondly in discovering a means of breeding oysters 

 under such conditions that the spat shall be safely depo^ited. And I 

 have no doubt that when those who undertake the business are pro- 

 vided with a proper knowledge of the conditions under which they have 

 to work both these objects will be attained." These remarks were ap- 

 parently intended to apply to the European oyster, but the}' apj)ly in 

 reality with equal force to our own species. 



My own studies and experiments during four j'ears past have borne 

 upon the question of the artificial propagation of the oyster, and while 

 1 am aware that shell-planting is practiced on the shores of Con- 

 necticut and Long Island with gratifying and even with very profitable 

 results, another i)hase of the industry remains undeveloped in the United 

 States, namely, pond, park, or claire culture as practiced in Europe. It 

 is upon the development of this branch of oyster culture in this country 

 that I largely build my hopes regarding the future utilization of the 

 many thousand of acres of swamp-lands or flats adjacent to waters where 

 the oyster is already native, while I also believe that the seed or si)at 

 can be reared in these ponds in quantity sufficient to supply the needs 

 of culture, provided diaphragms such as, or similar to, what I am about 

 to describe are used to prevent the escape of the naturallj' produced 

 embryos from the culture ponds. I look forward to the possibility of 

 depending entirely upon the embryos produced by the natural spawn- 

 ing of the adults confined in the ponds and not altogether to the pro- 

 cess of artificial fertilization, in the practice of which both the male and 

 female parents are sacrificed. The question is, how can we retain the 



