47 



is coniposc'd oi a clayey iiiud and iiiiikcs up uiic »»r llie lar-^'cst 

 continuous areas ol: hard bitttom found anywhere in tliis rej^ion. 



The salinity of the water in this lake was 1.U158. The num- 

 ber of diatoms in the water was smaller than is usual in this 

 section. 



Between Bayou Le Vieux and Bayou 1 "Eclat there are sev- 

 eral small bodies of water that have openings into Lake Felicity 

 and Lake Little. The bottom is firm in most of these ponds and 

 the depth is from four to seven feet. The salinity of the water 

 and the number of food organisms is practically the same as in 

 the larger bodies of water with which they connnunicate. 



In Grand Pass Felicity the deptii of the water in the channe} 

 varies from eight to tw^enty-five feet, while the mud flats, espe- 

 cially near the ends of the pass, are very broad, taking up the 

 greater part of its width. The bottom is quite soft in tiie channel 

 and no oyster reefs were found in the deeper water. Along the 

 fiats there are some extensive reefs. One of these along the 

 south side of the pass near its entrance to Lake Felicity is made 

 up of rather scattered clusters of poorly shaped oysters growing 

 on the soft bottom with rather large barren areas between the 

 clusters. There are several smaller reefs along the flats farther 

 down in the pass that have much the same characteristics as the 

 one just mentioned. 



At the lower end of the pass there is a large reef along the 

 northern shore. The oysters on tliis reef are arranged in long, 

 densely crowded clusters of from six to twenty individuals. There 

 are some few good-sized oysters among those at the liases of the 

 clusters, but by far t'he greater number were small and greatly 

 elongated. 'I'hc bcjttom is very soft everywhere about the reef 

 and in the barren spots between the clusters. 



The salinity of the ^vater and tlie abundance of the oyster 

 food is about the same as in Lake Felicity. 



There are many small bays and bayous in the marsli south 

 of Felicity l*ass. between Lake Little and Timbalier Bay. Ail 

 of these are intinuitely connected with each other and with the 

 larger bodies of water which bound this area. Most of the ponds 

 have a depth of from three to seven feet. In some of the bayous 

 the depth reaches twenty feet. Tliere are many insignificant 

 reefs of coon oysters in these ponds, but none of them are of 



