29 



*'sll('ll stock.' ( »ii till- ()l(l ivefs this sj)<>uirt; is nm; ot llu- ai-tivc 

 disintcirratiiiL:- aiiciits that hasc bi'niiyht about the i-a[)id dis- 

 apix-araiicc of the shi-lls. 



( HAB8. 



Some of the hirgi-r crabs, especially the stone crab {Menippe 

 lutrciiiaria) do considerable damage to the younger oysters by 

 breaking the thin growing edges of the shells and then extracting 

 and eating the body. "While crabs are present on the oyster 

 beds in all ot the Louisiana waters, the amount of damage 

 done by them is comparatively slight. 



The greatest funount of damage done by any of the living 

 enemies of the o\ster is due to the attacks of the drum fish, or 

 black drum. The oysters on the natural reefs, and for that mat- 

 ter on the cultivated beds, are not troubled very much, because 

 the oysters grow with the thin, sharp edges of the shells upper- 

 most, so that there is no opportunity for the fish to attack them 

 without having its jaws severely lacerated l)y the knife-like 

 edges of the shells. 



After the oysters have been in one place for some time 

 they become covered with a thin layer of sediment so that there 

 is nothing in tlieii- appearance to call particular attention to 

 them; l)ut on the otlier hand, when the oysters have been 

 changed from one jjlace to another they stay on the top of the 

 mud for sonie time and are very prominent objects on the 

 bottom. 



At the time when oysters which have hei-ii taken up 

 and culled arc put down again, either to wait foi- the comple- 

 tion of a load, or when working over a plant, they are especially 

 liable to be attacked by the fish, fis now. they are V( ry ea.sy to 

 get at becau.se when they are separate there is not the incon- 

 venience to the fish that theiv is when all the sharp edges of 

 the shells ai'e close tog<'ther. 



Tn some parts of tlu- State the fish have lieeii so bad at 

 certain times that a whole load of oystei-s. tlie results of a vveek 's 

 woi-k. would be lost in a single niirht. 



In most sections wheiv the fish ai-e at all bad, if is custo- 

 niary to have a snudl bed tliat is ])rotected ])y IxMiig fenced in 

 with a sort of barricade made of stakes or boards put down 



