26 



living oysters being found within the areas maiiied by "lease- 

 stakes. ' ' 



The salinity of the water was 1.016, the supply of food organ- 

 isms was fairly abundant all over the lake, but greatest near 

 the pass to Bay Wilson, where the currents were strongest. 



Bay Bond, south of Pelican Lake, is about one and one-half 

 miles in diameter. It is connected by several passes and short 

 bayous with Pelican Lake, Pelto Lake, and the arm of the Gulf 

 of Mexico, known as "Caillou Bay." In the eastern part of 

 the bay, near the passes to Lake Pelto, the depth of the water is 

 from ten to fifteen feet. Over the remainder of the bay the depth 

 U uniformly about three feet. Along the channel in the deeper 

 portions of the bay there is a considerable area where the bottom 

 is covered with the remains of old reefs. Along the south shore 

 there are also some scattered patches of very hard bottom. Over 

 practically all of the northern portion of the bay the bottom is 

 made of rather soft mud. The greater number of the old reefs 

 over which there is more than three feet of water have been taken 

 up for bedding grounds, and there are a few leases on the soft 

 bottom in the northeern part of the bay. 



The salinity of the water in Bay Rond is always quite high, 

 the average being 1.0166. The supi^ly of food materials is 

 abundant and constant. 



In Lake Pelto there are no productive reefs of oysters at 

 the present time, although there are several large extinct reefs 

 in the central part of tjie lake, and manj^ small beds of coon 

 03'Sters in some of the inlets on the north side of Last Island. 

 On all of the extinct reefs there are many whole shell valves, but 

 these are so thoroughly covered with the boring sponge and other 

 animal growths that they are now useless as spat collectors. 



The bottom is composed of firm mud over nearly all of the 

 lake, the only soft spots of any size being found in the shallow 

 V-'Oves along the islands separating this lake from Cat Island 

 Lake. In the northeastern part of the lake the water is quite 

 sliallow, and the islands in the central part of the lake protect 

 this portion from the effects of severe storms, which in the open 

 l)art of the lake might be very destructive to bedded oysters. 



Over the southern part of the lake the water is from five to 

 eight feet deep, the only shallow place being on the crest of an 

 (>]d reef in the central part of the lake. 



