54 



The stone crab {Menippe mercinaria) occurs in all the 

 oyster producing waters of the parish. Usually the number in 

 any locality is not large enough, so that they do any noticeable 

 amount of damage, but on all of the beds some of the shells of 

 small oysters are to be found with the edges of the shells broken 

 away, showing the characteristic effects of the attacks of this 

 enemy. 



A small boring clam (Martesis cuneformis) is found infest- 

 ing the living oysters and dead shells on most of the natural and 

 planted beds. The damage to the living oysters was inconsider- 

 able in any instance noted; but on the old reefs this form is one 

 of the active disintegrating agents. 



FRESHETS. 



Observations during the freshet seasons of two years, when 

 there was heavy damage from fresh water in other parts of the 

 State, have shown that the oyster beds in this parish are un- 

 usually free from damage resulting from an excess of fresn 

 water. On the western side of the parish there are some bodies of 

 water where the danger from freshet is so great that any at- 

 tempt at oyster culture will be very hazardous; but over the 

 greater part of the oyster-producing area the salinity of the 

 water is very stable and the drainage of the upland country is 

 such that there cannot be any great influx of fresh water to 

 destroy the oyster beds. Whenever there is a freshet the area 

 affected is usually very limited and the normal salinity of the 

 water is soon established, since there is ready communication 

 with the saline waters of the Gulf. The most persistent tlow 

 cf fresh water noted during the past two seasons was occasioned 

 by the breaking of the locks in a canal far back in the country, 

 near the head waters of Bayou Terrebonne, so that the freshet 

 was not due directly to the heavy rainfall that occurred at this 

 time. This last-mentioned occurrence calls attention to a prob- 

 lem that is becoming of more importance each year, namely, the 

 effect on the oyster-producing sections of the State of the many 

 drainage canals that already exist or that are to be dug in the 

 near future. Unless some provision is made for the holding back 

 and the gradual release of the surplus water there will be small 

 local freshets near the mouths of the canal systems each time a 



