OYSTER INVESTIGATIONS IN GEORGIA 93 



the thickness of a single bundle in Duplin Kiver from one-half to 

 three-quarters of a *inile from the entrance of this river into Doboy 

 Sound. This brush was placed on a comparatively productive oyster 

 reef, and the bundles extended from about 1 foot below mean low- 

 water mark toward the shore for a distance sufficient to cover a 

 vertical interval of about 4 feet. Each bundle was anchored to the 

 bottom by two stakes. 



Private interests on St. Simon Island, about 30 miles south of 

 Doboy Island, put out several hundred bundles of brush in a bayou 

 which contained a considerable number of coon oysters. 



Each locality was visited twice weekly during the first month after 

 the brush was put out (July) and examined frequently thereafter. 

 At the end of the season only an occasional spat was found on the 

 brush although shells near by caught a fair set. 



The observations of 1928 terminated on September 1, when flood 

 conditions prevailed in the region of Doboy Island. They were 

 resumed in April-Ma}^, 1929, by Dr. R. H. Luce. The main purpose 

 of these observations was to ascertain the number and condition of 

 oysters caught on the brush planted in the summer of 1928. 



BRUSH AS A COLLECTOR FOR OYSTERS 



Dohoy Island. — ^The brush set out at Doboy Island in July, 1928, 

 was found on the west side of the island in a little cove about 100 

 feet south of the wharf. The bank from the wharf to this cove is 

 high and rocky ; but as the cove begins the rock bank stops, and the 

 beach turns a little to the east and then runs south as a soft-mud 

 beach. Mixed oak and sassafras brush were placed on the south side 

 of the end of the rock bank as close to the line of the bank as was 

 possible. A few pieces of the brush were II/2 to 2 inches thick at 

 the butt end, but most pieces were small and ended in twigs. The 

 pile was about 10 to 11 feet long, 8 feet wide, 4 feet thick in the 

 center, and about 1 to 2 feet thick at either end. The brush ran 

 from 3 feet below high water to low water (spring tide). The pile 

 was held in place by stakes and weighted down with rocks so that 

 it formed a compact mass which easily supported the weight of a 

 man. At the time of the investigation the brush was covered with 

 slime about one thirty-second inch thick. 



Out of the pile only two pieces were found with oysters caught upon 

 them. One was located at the outermost edge of the pile and the 

 second one was midway in the pile. The first piece, 53 inches long, 

 13/^ inches thick at the base, and three-fourths of an inch at the top, 

 Avas covered with 121 oysters which were confined to the lower and 

 middle parts of it. The length and width of the oysters averaged 

 40.3 millimeters (l/g- inches) and 29.5 millimeters (iKs inches), 

 respectively. The second piece was not removed from the pile, as 

 only 12 oysters could be seen on it. 



North River. — Two patches of brush were found at the mouth 

 of North River on the western side of the channel at Doboy Island. 

 One group was about 60 feet from the edge of the marsh and the 

 second about 80 feet and in line with the first group. The locality 

 was a very soft spit of mud which is uncovered at about two-thirds 

 ebb tide, and which rises 2 to 3 feet above low water. The brush 



