21 



greater part of the contents liad been lost, a number of the Area 

 vsb(>lls Avith oystei-s attached remained and many younf? oysters 

 of about tlie same size as those on tlie clnteli were attached to 

 tlie nettinsr of the ca;4-e. The length in inches from umbo to op- 

 I>osite shell margin of ten oysters from the cage Avas 

 as. follows: 2.50,- 2.25, 4.00, 3.25, 2.50, 2.75, 3.00, 3.00, 2.25, 

 2.75, giving an average length of 2.75 inches. 



In the light of what we know of the rate of growth of oys- 

 ters on the wharf piles and on the reefs in the pass, it seems 

 improbable that the oysters found in the cage can be any of 

 those that settled in the cage in the summer of 1904. The fact 

 that the cage Avas put down in shallow water, where during the 

 extreme low tides caused by a "norther" it w^as exposed, makes 

 '■.\ appear probable that any oysters present in it at the time of 

 the freshet in the spring of 11)05 as were all those on the reef qj; 

 the same level. In the deep water where the cage rested after 

 the change from its first position many of the spat formed in 

 June, 1905, lived through the sunnner, and it seems most likely 

 that the ones found in the cage were eight months rather than 

 a year and eight months of age. Some of the area shells remain- 

 ing in the cage had empty oyster shells attached of about the 

 same size as the living oysters; but, as these shells were covered 

 with sediment and overgrown with hydroids, both inside as well 

 a'-- out, they had been dead for a longer time than could have 

 been the case had they come from the same set of spat as the 

 living oysters present with them in the cage. 



The growth of the young oysters on the reefs in the upper 

 part of the pass, when we take into account that the set of spat 

 d'd not occur until late in October, and consequently the growth 

 has taken place in the winter season, when, on account of the 

 k w temperature of the water, growth is always slowest, is very 

 (i^couraging. As the result of not over five months' growth dur- 

 ing that part of the season when growth is always slowest there 

 i . an abundance of young oysters of sizes ranging between one 

 and one-half and two and one-half inches. In all the counts of 

 young oysters made during ^March and April of this year a record 

 "^ the siz'-s of the young growth was kept, and always the num- 



