220 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



As to the oysters which you speak of as occurring at one of the Ku- 

 rile Islands, if to be sold for immediate consumption, the large ones 

 (adult) are what you want. If, on the other hand, you intend to plant 

 them for subsequent business purposes the smaller ones are better — 

 safer, measurably, to transport, &c. 



As to what place you had better plant them in, I am not i)repared to 

 answer, as I do not know the conditions or peculiarities of the region in 

 the Kuriles which enter into the particulars of the habitat. It would be 

 l)rudent to bear iu mind that these and similar mollusks do not stand 

 heat well. The cool season of the year would be best for the experi- 

 ment. 



The oysters should be put in rather oi)en crates and mixed in with 

 rock or bladder weed, and frequently watered with sea-water en route ; 

 kept shady and cool all the time, and jarred or shaken as little as pos- 

 sible, and planted where they will be covered by the tide to the extent 

 that prevails in their native bed ; and as a suggestion I should think 

 that near the head of Drake's Bay, on the coast north of San Francisco 

 Bay (which you will see by the map contains a " bight," as the sailors 

 call it), with a rocky or shelly bottom, would or might be a good place. 



After planting you will have to look out and protect the bed from the 

 star-fishes, periwinkles, and whelks which are as fond of oysters as the 

 genus homo. 



If you should deem it best to attempt the experiment, please have 

 your men collect any and all shells as well as some of the larger indi- 

 viduals of the oysters, and send the same to this Institution so that we 

 may examine them here. 



U. S. National Museum, 



Washington, D. C, June 13, 1884. 



lis CATCHBIVG FISH IN A CREEK IIV TENNESSEE BY A ^VATER- 



SNAKE. 



By J. S. IVAKNJER. 



Just one mile from where I write a bold spring issues from under a 

 rock and sends out so considerable a stream that it affords power for 

 an old-fashioned saw-mill three-fourths of a mile from the spring. Just 

 a few rods from where I am writing fish 8 to 10 inches in length are 

 caught as they come up stream. Last year I saw a water-snake leav- 

 ing the creek with a fish about 5 inches in length, just as described by 

 Mr. Nye, in Fish Commission Bulletin, 1883, page 190. I killed the 

 snake, rescued the fish, and returned it to the water, but it seemed to 

 be too badly wounded to recov^er. The snake was making way for a 

 l^lace of safety where it might devour its prey. 



JoNESBOKo', Tenn., June 14, 1884. 



