COLLECTION OF SF.KI) OYSTERS 



49 



WIRE-BAG COLLECTORS 



Various types of seed collectors were tested out in Milford Harbor 

 in 1925, the most successful being the round, galvanized -wire bushel 

 baskets Avhich were filled with clam, mussel, and oyster shells. 

 Twelve of these baskets were set out on the tidal flats and collected on 

 the average 15,000 spat per bushel of shells. The spat were not imi- 

 formly distributed throughout the baskets but were most numerous 

 on shells in the bottom and on the outside edges and were compara- 

 tively scarce on those in the middle. By actual count the oyster shells 

 on the top, bottom, and sides were found to be covered with from 25 

 to 200 spat, those on the next inside layer with from 12 to 50, while 

 in the center only 2 to 10 spat were found per shell. These initial 



Figure 1. — Seed oysters collected iu wire basket 



experiments showed that by placing shells in a comparatively open 

 container we could greatly increase the amount of shells that could 

 be planted on a given area and thus offer more surface for the attach- 

 ment of the oyster larvae. Previously the planting of shells was 

 limited to a narrow layer just above the bottom ; but by this means 

 it was possible to utilize in a practical way a third dimension, or the 

 vertical distance above the bed. A single basket covering approxi- 

 mately 1 square foot collected more seed oysters than would ordi- 

 narily be obtained by a heavy planting or scattering of shells over 

 1 or more yards of bottom. It was obvious, however, that a change 

 in the shape of this type of shell container should be made that 

 would facilitate the passage of the larvoe among the shells and thus 

 produce more uniform setting. For this purpose triangular lath 

 crates were tested out in 1926 as shell containers, a study of which 



