fertilization, the egg develops rapidly until it has reached the 

 stage where it has acquired a tuft of hairs at one end of the 

 minute body mass for as yet it has no definite structure and 

 becomes a free swimming animal. In this condition it swims 

 actively through the water and grows. Development may be 

 fast or slow according to the condition, its growth dependinc^ 

 upon the temperature and the food supply. Without food, or at 

 low temperature the young oyster may be kept two weeks or 

 more with but little development. Under normal conditions, 

 however, after swimming freely in the water about two weeks 

 it attaches itself to some object and begins its sedentary growth. 



It is during the free-swimming stage that the spawn is dis- 

 tributed throughout the waters. The swimming movements 

 of the young oyster are directed mainly to keep the animal 

 at the surface of the water, and not for progression in any 

 desired direction, as with or against the current. The young 

 oyster known at this stage as the larva, is not a strong swimmer 

 and consequently is entirely at the mercy of the currents, winds 

 and tides. In this way the larva floats, now in this direction, 

 now in that ; some are carried far out to sea, others are drifted 

 into fresh w^ater, and still others are washed ashore. Thus it 

 is, that during the heighth of the spawning season one can 

 hardly dish up a bucket of water anywhere in salt or brackish 

 water without finding several oyster larvae in it. The larvae 

 at this stage are just barely visible to the unaided eye and look 

 like a tiny bit of chalk. The shell has already started to form, 

 but the two valves are more nearly symmetrical, and it looks more 

 like what one might imagine to be the young of the quahog 

 clam than an oyster. 



The free-swimming stage in the life of the oyster is a wise pro- 

 vision made by nature for its distribution. Where the spawn 

 is drifted into one of the ocean currents, it may be floated 

 hundreds of miles out to sea. Even under natural condition 

 of our tides west of the Mississippi River, and away from the 

 influences of any river, young larvae have been found in the 

 gulf, in scarce numbers, at least ten miles from the shore, and 

 probably more than that from any oyster beds. Likewise it has 

 been caught in inland lakes where waters are absolutely fresh. 



