THE CONDITIONS FOR OYSTER CULTURE AT CAL- 

 CASIEU PASS. 



By O. C. Glaser. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The following report is based on observations and experiments 

 made at the Gulf Biologic Station of Louisiana during the sum- 

 mer of 1903. It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to 

 Director H. A. Morgan for his kind and enthusiastic co-operation, 

 and to Mr. Frank Roberts, Treasurer of the Station, for the liberal 

 manner in which he met the expenditures connected with the 

 work. I am also glad to acknowledge my obligations to Dr. 

 Caswell Grave, Director of the United States Fish Commission 

 Laboratory at Beaufort, for suggestions, and a knowledge of the 

 methods used in the investigation of the problems connected with 

 oyster culture. 



Calcasieu Pass, in Southwestern Louisiana, has throughout its 

 length of seven miles from Lake Calcasieu to the Gulf a great 

 number of natural oyster beds composed of thin, highly elongated 

 shells. These beds during the summer of 1903 were beginning to 

 recover from the great freshet of the preceding spring, but the 

 surviving adults were so scattered that many problems had to 

 remain unsolved. To some extent the scarcity of full-grown 

 oysters was overcome by the "jetty oysters" growing on one of the 

 great stone jetties which project for a mile from the mouth of 

 the river outward into the Gulf. The oysters growing there could 

 be collected at very low tides in considerable numbers ; and, being 

 out of the main current of the river, were in very fair condition 

 at a time when most of the oysters growing elsewhere in the 

 neighborhood had succumbed. The oysters growing on the scat- 

 tered reefs are of poor flavor, thin-shelled and very elongated as 

 a result of overcrowding. In this respect they compare unfavora- 

 bly with the "jetty oysters," which are well shapen, thick of shell, 

 and have a very much better flavor. That two classes of oysters 

 diflfering so markedly in important economic characters should 



