ntroduction. 



The following report is based upon a study of the physical 

 and biological conditions of the waters of the coast of Terre- 

 bonne Parish, La. The investigations were carried on dnrir.g 

 May and June, 1906, and from March 23rd to Jane 30th, 1907. 

 This study is one of a series tbat is being made by th(^ staff 

 cf The Gulf Biologic Station in the course of which it is hoped 

 that it will be possible to cover the entire oyster-piV'lucing 

 section of the State and thus make available to those 'uterestod 

 in the oyster industry the facts relating to the conditions whi^h 

 determine the value for oyster culture in all the bodies of water 

 on the coast of this State. The first of this series, enti tled '^The^ 

 Conditions for Oyster Culture in the Parishes of Vermilion a ad 

 Iberia, La.," was published as Bulletin No. 4^of_the Guif 

 Biologic Station, in the spring of 1906. 



In so far as possible, the results of this study have been 

 compared with those obtained by Dr. Moore in 1898 anj pre- 

 sented in his report on the oyster beds of Louisiana.* 



Owing to the absence of any charts showing even the ai^- 

 proximate size, location and connections of the bodies of water 

 in the region studied, it has been very difficult to give a con- 

 nected account of their relationships and impracticable to make 

 any attempt to indicate the location of the oyster reefs, other 

 than to refer them to the bodies of water in which they occur, 

 giving the latter the aames by which they are known to the 

 oyster men. In this connection it may be well to mention that 

 many of the smaller bodies of water will not be separately con- 

 sidered -. but will be discussed along with the larger ones to 

 which they are 'connected or adjacent. 



Although the average salinity of the water is given in the 

 discussion of each locality, the averages of all the detennina- 



* Moore. H. F.— Report on the Oyster Beds of Louisiana. Report U. S. Fish 

 Commission for 1898, pp. 45 to tOO. plates 33. 



