BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 355 



sbonkl the report be favorable and tbe next examination of tbe troughs 

 indicate a continuance of tbe experiments as advisable, I will, with 

 your approval, move uj) to Long Island Sound and make this attempt. 

 Should the Fish Hawk come in before I leave I will try and arrange for 

 the transportation of the troughs by her. 

 Fort Monroe, Ya., August 4, 1883. 



After I wrote you last from Fort Monroe I made several examina- 

 tions of the glass slides in the oyster apparatus with fairly satisfactory 

 results. Though the young oysters had not fastened themselves to the 

 glass, yet they had grown somewhat and were vigorous and healthy, 

 with plenty of food in their stomachs. The slides examined had from 

 one to four oysters on each, and fully four hundred slides were in the 

 apparatus. It is hardly possible to find, with the microscope, so small 

 an embryo as that of the oyster on an opaque body such as an oyster 

 shell, but I have no doubt that many more embryos were caught by the 

 shells and partitions in the troughs than we detected on the glass slides. 

 As the animals were doing so well I thought best to continue the ex- 

 periment until some result was reached, which end would be attained 

 shortly, as the oysters at the last examination were over three weeks old 

 and are now nearly five. Finding it impossible to fertilize the eggs suc- 

 cessfully, and as I was advised by Mr. Eowe, of this place, that the oys- 

 ters here were doing well and still spawning, I concluded, in the absence 

 of instructions from you, that I would make an attempt at New Haven. 

 I accordingly left the apparatus at Hampton in charge of Dr. Brooks, 

 with instructions to continue it in operation until the oysters either 

 attached or disappeared. Any results obtained are to be made public 

 through the Fish Commission, but I do not anticipate anything of value 

 from a biological point of view. I hope, however, that the young 

 oysters have fastened by this time, and I regret that I cannot give you 

 definite information upon that point. I find the oysters here i)retty well 

 out of si)awn, not more than one in twenty being tit for fertilization. I 

 have made some experiments, but not with sufficient success to justify 

 setting up an apparatus at all similar to the one at Hampton. I am 

 sorry that I did not get up here sooner, as the season has been very 

 favorable and a large attachment of spat is expected by the oyster 

 growers ; but so far as my labors are concerned, the season is about 

 finished. 



i!fEW Haven, Conn., August 22, 1883. 



I have lately received a letter from Dr. Brooks reporting the result 

 of the final examination of the water troughs containing the artificially 

 raised oysters. The examination was made on the l!lst and 22d of 

 August, but I Tegret to say without success, the young oysters 

 having disappeared. Dr. Brooks writes that he went over all the 

 ohells and slides very carefully without success, but as he subse- 

 quently examined all the oyster, ground in the vicinity of Hampton, 



