OYSTER RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 363 



Smiycstions. — In view of the fact tliat there is cousiderable pr(»pa,na- 

 tioii among- the oysters of San rraiicis{;o Bay and that no attempt has 

 been made to collect spat, it would be desirable to experiment in the 

 vicinity of the most southerly beds of the bay with a variety of si)at- 

 collecting^ surfaces. There are many suitable channels, creeks, and 

 tracts of dee]> water close to the beds. Bundles of brush could be 

 anchored outside the lines of stakes about the beds or in the creeks, 

 and tioating" collectors could be moored anywhere; these could be made 

 scow-shaped, the sides and ends of coarse timbers of any sort, and the 

 bottom of wide-meshed wire netting; such a craft, loaded with all the 

 shells it could conveniently tioat, could be towed anywhere and might 

 be large or small. In view of the existence of stingrays, this pattern 

 of collector or iha brush collectors would be safest, to say nothing of 

 th6 ease with which they could be inspected for xjresence of vSpat. 



If there were fixing surface of any description in the creeks or sloughs 

 that extend from the southern part of the bay far back toward San 

 Jose, Eedwood, Belmont, Newark, and through the marsh lands gen- 

 erally, it is probable that oysters would attach. When the cold tide flows 

 in across the extensive sun-heated fiats in the springtime, it warms 

 rapidly and fills the creeks with water of a much higher temperature 

 than is found elsewhere in the region of the bay. The warm water 

 flowing across the oysters brings them into spawn very suddenly when 

 the weather conditions are favorable. My attention was called to this 

 fact by the oystermen. 



The creeks are, without exception, very muddy an<l absolutely with- 

 out any firm surfaces upon which drifting oyster spat might settle. 

 These creeks are similar in character. Most of them retain a consider- 

 able depth of water at low tide. They are named on the charts of San 

 Francisco Bay as follows: Union City Creek, Cayote Creek, Beard 

 Creek, Mud Creek^ Alviso Slough, Kedwood City Creek, Steinberger 

 Creek, Angela Creek. Quantities of brush from the drier lands, just 

 back of the marshes through which they flow, could readily be dei)os- 

 ited in them as S[»at-col lectors. From the fact that oysters have been 

 taken from the timbers of two or three old trestles that cross them, we 

 might reasonably exi)ect favorable results from a (careful experiment 

 with brush collectors. 



Should it fnially be found advantageous, these creeks could readily be 

 sown with (piantities of shells of the native oyster from the shell heaps 

 about the shores of the bay. That the native si)ecies has never pene- 

 trated into them is no argument against the i)ropagation of the eastern 

 species there. Occasional specimens have already been found growing- 

 there, and the creeks may prove as favorable to them as similar creeks 

 aie on the Atlantic coast. 



The proper tiin<', for i)lacing collectors in San Francisco Bay is yet to 

 be determined. 



