HABITS OF MARINE ANIMALS 149 



The mature oyster spawns about June or July, 

 and the spat escaping as described, settles on the cultch. 

 This is a most critical time for the oyster breeder. If 

 the weather is fine and warm, with the water at a tem- 

 perature of about 68° F., the spat falls at once, and is 

 retained on the bed, but should it be cold, windy weather, 

 it is carried miles away to perish. 



As soon as the spat has become attached, the velum, 

 having done its work in assisting to carry it to a 

 suitable resting place, disappears. The spat, which is 

 considerably less than one hundredth of an inch in 

 diameter when it first escapes, soon commences to 

 grow, and if a cultch shell is carefully examined with a 

 magnifying glass three days after the spawning has 

 commenced, baby oysters can be detected as minute 

 shining specks. 



It is not left to chance for the oysters to mature, 

 for their mode of living is henceforth carefully regulated. 

 Every October they are dredged up off the oyster bed, 

 and transferred to pits on the marshes, with the object 

 of protecting them from cold and winter storms. The 

 following March they are placed on the beds again 

 which, in the meantime, have been thoroughly cleansed. 



In October of the first year the clean shells put down 

 as cultch, are taken up as " spat shells," and these spat 

 shells, covered with little oysters, go into the pits. 



In the spring of the second year the spat shells go 

 back to the beds, and in the autumn are taken up as 

 '* bundles of brood." In the third year, when the 



