3.-A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLICATIONS IN THE ENGLISH 

 LANGUAGE RELATIVE TO OYSTERS AND THE OYSTER 

 INDUSTRIES. 



By Charles H. Stevknson. 



INTRODUCTION. 



From the period of the Roman Empire to tlie present time, oysters 

 have occupied a prominent positional a food product; and the grow- 

 ing, harvesting, and marketing of them have given empk)yment to vast 

 numbers of persons and mncli capital. The subject has conseqnently 

 aftbrded an attractive theme for naturalists, historians, government 

 officials, political economists, and miscellaneous writers, and an amaz- 

 ing amount of information in reference thereto has been recorded. 

 This information is so widely distributed through publications and 

 periodicals of almost every description that to the casual inquirer the 

 literature of oysters and the oyster industries appears very meager. In 

 view of tlie growing attention bestowed on oysters in this country and 

 elsewhere, it is thought that the accompanying compilation of the 

 literature of the subject will supply a need of many persons directly or 

 indirectly interested in oysters and the industries dependent thereon. 



Several incomplete bibliographies on tliis subject have already been 

 published. One'^of these, consisting of 38 references, 26 of which are 

 to publications in foreign languages, ap peared in an appendix to the 

 Keport of the Maryland Fish Commission for 1881.* A second list, 

 giving the names of 70 papers in the Englisli language, was published by 

 the Xederlandsche Dierkundige Vereeniging in 1883 1; this has been of 

 considerable assistance in the present compilation. In a recent report 

 by the writer on the oyster industry of Marylandf there was printed a 

 list of 27 articles relating t(f the subject of tliat paper. None of these 

 reference lists, however, furnishes a satisfactory idea of the extent and 

 importance of oyster literature. 



*Report of T. B. Ferguson, a Commissioner of Fisheries of Maryland, January, 

 1881. Hagerstown, Md., 1881. 



t Vorslag omtront Ondorzoekingen op do Oester en do Oestercultuur betrckluiig 

 hebbendo-iiitgebraclit door de Comraissio voor het Zoologiscb .Station der Xeder- 

 landsche Dierkundige Vereeniging. Leiden, .Januari, 1^83. 8^, 112 pp. 



JThe Oyster Imlustry of Maryland. By Charles II. Stevenson. Hnllctin U. S. 

 Fi^sb Conniiission for 1892, pp. 203-297, plates LVl-i,x.\i, Washington, 1891. 



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