31 



miles long and from 150 yards to one-quarter of a mile wide. 

 Except near the pass at the southern end, the water is shallow, 

 beino from two and one-half to five feet deep. The bottom is 

 soft "over practically all of the bay. In the pass from Oyster 

 Bav there are some reefs of poor oysters on the fl^s„ and m the 

 scu'thern part of the bay near the head of the pass there is a 

 reef, some ten or fifteen acres in extent. This reef is now so 

 thoroughly depleted that very few oysters oould bo found on it 

 Farther up in the bav there are leased beddin- grounds that 

 occupy areas of bottom where there had apparently been natural 



reefs 



The salinity of the water in this bay. was 1.0152, and the 



ovster food was abundant. 



From the north end of Bay Couteau a narrow bayou leads 

 to Pumpkin- Bav. a small, nearly circular body of water, lying 

 in the marsh just east of Bayou Little Caillou. The depth of 

 the water in this bav is from two and one-half to four feet, and 

 the bottom is composed of rather soft mud. The saKnity of the 

 water was 1.0152, and the oyster food abundant. 



In Bayou Little Caillou, between the pass to Bay Couteau 

 and that to Bav Crocodile, the depth of the water varies from 

 one and one-half to ten feet, the deep places being found only 

 near the passes. The bottom is composed of very soft muci 

 throughout all of this stretch of the bayou, and there are no 

 oyster reefs except near the pass to Bay Crocodile. The oysters 

 from this reef, in twelve feet of water, were small and so tliickly 

 overgrown with mussels that in many instances it was difficult 

 to tell whether the center of a cluster was a Iviing oyster or a 

 dead shell. The oysters on this reef are always so poor that 

 little use is made of them except for planting in some more 



favorable locality. 



The salinity of the water in Bayou Little Caillou is sub- 

 ject to extreme fluctuations. In May, 1906, and in March, 1907, 

 the average of the determinations was 1.012; while on :\ray 20, 

 1907, it was 1.000 at the pass to Bay Crocodile, and was very 

 little higher— 1.0026— near the pass to Bay Couteau. Accord- 

 ing to the best evidence obtainable, freshets so severe as that 

 of the past spring are of rare occurrence, and the oysters in the 

 <ieeper water have been killed by the lowering of the salinity 



