4 REPORT OF STATE BIOLOGIST. 
I have no hesitation in saying.that, even should we be un- 
successful in propagating the introduced species here, there 
is profit, much profit, for an individual, or a company, pro- 
vided ground could be secured for such purpose, in importing 
seed oysters from the east, ae them in our bays (they 
will grow in almost any of our bays), and selling to home 
trade a year or two years or more later. As is well known, 
an immense business of this kind is conducted at San Fran- 
cisco. Now, then, if pond culture of embryo oysters can be 
resorted to here (I have already alluded to a successful in- 
stance of its use in the east), how much more profit would 
there be in raising seed here than in purchasing it on the At- 
lantic Coast and paying freight rates to the Pacific. 
While I confidently believe that, in time, oystermen will 
find more or less eastern oysters in Yaquina Bay, which have 
had their origin, naturally, in the plant introduced by the 
United States Fish Commission, it may take many years before 
this result is attained, and my chief, in fact, my only reliance 
for immediate results, now rests upon pond culture in connec- 
tion with artificial fertilization. Artificial fertilization con- 
sists In mixing the ripe generative products from both sexes 
of oyster in receptacles filled with salt water, and when the 
developing eggs have reached the swimming stage of the 
embryo, or later, turning them into the bay, or better, into 
ponds where proper temperature and saltness can be main- 
tained until they fix themselves as ‘‘spat,’’ this spat to be 
later deposited in the bay. 
With this idea of pond culture in mind, a cement pond was 
made last summer in the tide land with the expectation of 
testing its efficiency next summer. 
Of all the bays of the Oregon Coast examined during the 
last three years, Yaquina Bay, though not an ideal place, ap- 
pears most suited for successful propagation of this delicious 
bivalve, although an abundance of oyster food was found 
everywhere, and, as stated above, this oyster will undoubtedly 
grow finely in almost any bay on our coast. 
I here insert, seriatim, and very briefly, the conditions 
found by the writer to prevail in the localities studied, to- 
gether with a few tables of salinity and temperatures. The 
density of ocean water is 1.025. 
