350 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Large numbers of shells were tbiiiid honeycombed by the boring- 

 sponge. 



The starlisli has never i)r()ved troublesome to the oyster beds of the 

 bay, and, in fact, is seldom found upon them. It is doubtful if it occurs, 

 except as a straggler, tkrther south in the bay than the wharves of 

 San Francisco and Oakland, and requires no special mention in this 

 connection, as its presence upon a bed would be readily detected at 

 low water, when stray specimens would be ])iekcd off liy hand and dis- 

 posed of efi'eetuall3^ The original bedding-grounds for oysters at 

 Sausalito, being so close to the sea, were sometimes visited by starfish, 

 but they were not considered troublesome. 



Frcimration of ground for Uiyltuj out the oysters. — The mudflats are 

 always more or less prepared for oyster-ground by gangs of workmen, 

 who level the surface by removing the elevations and filling in the 

 depressions. This is done, of course, when the proj)osed oyster bed is 

 laid bare at low tide. There seems to be very little improvement of 

 the ground by the use of old shells of the eastern species. Mr. IMor- 

 aghan returns the shells from his restaurant stands in the California 

 market in San Francisco to his beds at Millbrae, but he uses them for 

 filling depressions, and does not distribute them over the beds as 

 sijat-collectors. 



Fixation of spat, — Not only are the chances for the fixing of spat 

 diminished by the use of ground in some places where there are very 

 few old shells upon the bottom, but almost all of the shells of Ostrea 

 virginica are returned from the marketmen to the principal oyster com- 

 l)any, who sell them for the manufacture of lime, instead of using them 

 for the improvement of the beds. These shells of eastern oysters, if 

 returned to the beds Avhere they were grown, or to other portions of 

 the bay, would certainly increase the chances for the fixation of spat 

 set free from the beds Avhere adult oysters are growing. It is probable 

 that careful attention to this matter of increasing the fixing surface 

 required by the young oyster jnight make just the ditterence between 

 rapid self-propagation and the present slow increase. 



So far as has been ascertained, no recent attempt has been made by 

 anyone to collect the spat of Ostrea viryinira, in San Francisco Bay, 

 and it is evident that the prevailing impression that there is no propa- 

 gation of the si)ecies here is not founded upon conclusions based upon 

 actual investigations. Previous to my lirst exaniination of the 03^ster 

 beds, a gentleman as keenly alive to matters of public interest as any- 

 one in California, and a member of the original Tide Lands Commission, 

 said to nu>, "You will find that the oyster docs not ])ro[)agate here," 

 A general impression had simi)ly grown into a widespread belief. AVith 

 the exception of a few persons connected with the management of the 

 oyster business, the men employed in the industry know little of the 

 subject outside of the peculiar methods jiracticed in California. 



