28 



OYSTER CULTURE EXPERIMENTS IN LOUISIANA. 



nothing to indicate any mortality among the oysters clue to the low 

 salinity of the Avater. 



The floor of Falsemouth Bay is level and clean of all rubbish and 

 debris. The bottom is quite uniformly composed of hard mud, much 

 like that of the surrounding land, though there are occasional small 

 patches of softer consistence. The ba}^ has an area of about 11 

 square miles, and over practically all of it oysters and shells may 

 be planted Avithout danger of being engulfed. There are not now, 

 nor, apparently, have there ever been, any natural reefs, and the 

 few very scattering oyster growths observed in 1898 seem to have 

 been exterminated. 



In oyster food Falsemouth Bay was found to be one of the richest 

 places in Louisiana in 1898, and the results of the present examination 

 shoAv that it retains this rank. The average oyster-food content of 

 its waters from May, 1906, to January, 1909, was higher than that 

 of any other localit}^ observed, excepting only the middle of Bara- 

 taria Bay. Falsemouth Bay and Bayou St. Denis, in Jefferson Par- 

 ish, were about on an equality. The following table shows the 

 fluctuations in the observed food supply, together with the specific 

 gravities and temperatures of the water at various times during the 

 course of the experiments : 



Food Content, Specific Gravity, and Temperature of Water in Falsemouth 



Bay. 



Xo oyster enemies whatever were observed in this locality. The 

 water is too fresh for the borer ever to become troublesome, but the 

 drumfish, which operates in water of all degrees of saltness, might 

 make occasional forays if oysters were numerous enough to be attract- 



