52 



many of the small oysters less thau two iiiehes long. The older 

 oysters on the natural reefs are protected by the knife-like edges 

 of their shells, which will lacerate the lips of the fish if it makes 

 any attempt to destroy them. When seed oysters are taken from 

 the natural reefs, or when, during the fishing season the culled 

 oysters are "banked" to await the completicfi of a load, the 

 fish are likely to do the greatest amount of damage. After the 

 oysters have been banked for a few weeks they are practically 

 safe from the attacks of this enemy; either because they settle 

 into the mud, or because they become covered by a deposit of 

 sediment sufSeient to render them inconspicuous on the bottom. 



The drum is more or less troublesome in all parts of the 

 parish, but seems to be especially abundant in the vicinity of 

 Lake Pelto, and in the bays above Bay Saint Helene. Many 

 of the lessees of small bedding grounds when planting seed oys- 

 ters enclose the entire area with a fence made up of small stakes 

 that will stand for a few weeks until the danger from the attacks 

 of this enemy is past. When fishing for market on the natural 

 reefs the oyster men usually enclose a small area where the 

 culled stock can be safely kept until it is taken up to be sold. 

 The same method of procedure is frequently followed by the 

 owners of leased bottoms when working over their stock, the 

 marketable oysters being put in a protected place, as the loss 

 can thus be in a great measure guarded against. 



A boring sponge {Cliona sulphurea) occurs more or less 

 abundantly on all of the living and extinct reefs in Terrebonne 

 Parish. In most cases the amount of the damage done to the 

 living oysters is very slight; but on the old reefs this sponge 

 is one of tlie most active agents concerned in the disintegration 

 of the shells. Besides breaking up the shells by means of its 

 innumerable small burrows, the sponge 'covers their outer surf- 

 ace with a layer of slimy matter, to which spat cannot become 

 attached thus making the shells useless to perpetuate the reefs. 

 In some few places, particularly in Bay Wilson, as previously 

 mentioned, the sponge becomes sufficiently abundant to infest 

 practically all of the living oysters as well as the dead shells. 

 Tn such cases the vitality of the oysters is lowered by the con- 

 stant necessity for the increased secretion of limey materials to 

 v^lose the openings of the burrows that extend through the shell 



