The Gulf of Mexico 267 



restriction is placed on implements that may be used by 

 lessees. 



One admirable section of the law is that instructing the 

 Oyster Commission to publish and distribute copies of the 

 act, and to publish its rules and regulations, as they are 

 adopted, in its official journal, chosen from among the 

 daily papers of New Orleans. 



Among other interesting provisions is that reserving 

 bottoms for scientific experiment near the biologic sta- 

 tion at Cameron. The state seems to have placed much 

 confidence in the work of biologists, whom it has invited 

 to study the natural conditions existing on its oyster 

 fields. 



In Texas, the most western of the Gulf states, prac- 

 tically the entire coast is bounded by a narrow water 

 zone that, in turn, is separated from the Gulf by a low 

 bank. In many parts of this confined area, conditions 

 are favorable for oyster growth. One hundred and 

 forty square miles of Matagorda Bay, probably compris- 

 ing the best of the natural oyster area of the state, has 

 been surveyed by the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, and its 

 scattered and limited beds have been charted. It was 

 shown by the expert in charge of the survey that the 

 natural beds would supply only a limited number of 

 oysters. There is every reason, however, to believe that 

 oyster culture might be successfully practised over a 

 much greater area than that occupied by the natural 

 growth, and, on the whole, the oyster laws are favorable 

 for its development. 



One advanced feature of the state oyster law is that 

 permitting any citizen of the United States, or any Texas 

 corporation, to lease bottoms. This approaches the legal 

 provisions of Connecticut. The lease, however, is lim- 



