194 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Although the quantity of Willapa oysters used in San Francisco has 

 been reduced by tlie introduction of the eastern oysters, a considerable 

 percentage of the output still finds a market there, many persons pre- 

 ferring the native to the introduced species. 



Of the adaptability of the eastern species to the water of San Fran- 

 cisco Bay there is no doubt. Eastern oysters have for the past twenty- 

 five years been brought to California in the form of seed and kept in 

 the bay for three or four years until grown to a large size. It was 

 supposed for many years that, owing to the uniform coldness of the 

 water, there was no natural increase, but an examination of San Fran- 

 cisco Bay in 1890-91 by the writer showed that considerable natural 

 increase had taken place, and more recent inquiry develops the fact 

 that the scattered tracts of naturally propagated oysters were develop- 

 ing into oyster beds, from which a small supply was being gathered 

 annually by boys and others who knew where to look for them. It is 

 altogether probable that the tendency of the acclimated stock is to 

 increase from year to year. There are evidences of natural increase on 

 the beds where the annual supplj^ brought from the Atlantic coast is 

 laid out for growth, but with a gradually developing market for oysters 

 on the west coast and a comparatively limited area over which they 

 could spread and propagate, it seems i^robable that the present custom 

 of importing seed will have to be continued for many years. If San 

 Francisco Bay were less muddy and more generally supplied with 

 shelly bottom to which young oysters could attach themselves, the 

 establishment of the species would go on more rapidly. Outside of 

 San Francisco Bay the introduction of the eastern oyster has not been 

 attempted on any scale worthy of more than passing notice. 



The following extracts from the report previously referred to are of 

 interest in this connection: 



In Tomales Bay, Messrs. Weinard and Terry laid out about 17 carloads of eastern 

 oysters in 1875. They remained there only two or three years, until all were mar- 

 keted or removed to more accessible places in San Francisco Bay. The experiment 

 was not repeated. Captain Lawson, one of the oldest residents upon Tomales Bay, 

 says that these oysters lived and fattened as well apparently as those in San Fran- 

 cisco Bay. They were laid out at Millerton Station, near the southern end of the 

 bay, where some of the stakes used in fencing the bed are still standing. There is 

 perhaps no reason why the extensive mudflats of Tomales Bay should not be used for 

 laying out oysters in the same manner as is done in San Francisco. The bay is 

 nowhere very deep. With two or three good-sized streams flowing into it, the 

 natural conditions ought to prove very similar to those of San Francisco. It is 18 

 miles long and averages 2 in breadth. There are no signs of the propagation of 

 eastern oysters there, although Osirea lurida is not uncommon. 



From correspondents in southern California I have recently learned that eastern 

 oysters are reported as propagating in San Diego Bay. A few years ago a quantity 

 of oysters were placed there, and they still remain in good condition. It is said also 

 that a lot of Mexican oysters, brought in a steamer from Guaymas several years ago, 

 were found to be dying rapidly when the vessel arrived in San Diego Harbor, and 

 were thrown overboard. It is claimed that survivors from this accidental planting 

 are occasionally found. This bay, more than 400 miles south of San Francisco Bay, 

 is much warmer, and it might be that the oyster of the Gulf of California, which 



