OYSTER PROPAGATION IN P.P.I. 63 
SESSIONAL PAPER No. 38a 
crowded out or missed, which demands a more specialized investigation. Lacking 
previous familiarity with this considerable expanse of water, it seemed best to get as 
broad a view as possible of the conditions, from which departure could be made in any 
special direction, as the findings might suggest. 
DESCRIPTION OF METHODS. 
The most important procedure is the determination of the oyster “ plankton,” 
i.e, the young “fry” in the water, which furnishes the “setting” of “spat.” This 
study was prosecuted by the use of a net made from the finest bolting silk. Counting 
out Sundays and stormy days, plankton studies were made on eighteen days, at an 
average rate of fifteen per day and a maximum of more tlian twice that figure. The 
net gathers a vast number of many kinds of larve-—bivalves, univalves, water fleas, 
ete., and as it is necessary to sort the oyster larvee out from each sample, under a 
microscope, and count and measure them, the work is nervously strenuous and time- 
consuming. 
Our procedure consisted in straining approximately known quantities of water 
through the plankton net, and then to “wash” the “catches” into a series of wide- 
mouthed bottles containing sufficient formalin to kill the larve, so that they would 
all settle to the bottom. After a number of such samples were. collected, the boat 
was run into the nearest quiet harbour, where the sediment in the bottles was 
examined in partial lots, until the entire amount in each bottle had been sorted 
by the methods developed in our previous researches. 
The samples were collected in the following ways :— 
(1) Dipping water in the net while the boat was under full headway, the 
average rate was two samples per mile, each of 20 quarts of water. 
(2) Dragging the net back and forth by hand a definite distance and number of 
times while the boat was stopped. This is called “swinging” the net. 
(3) Towing a definite length of time, say a minute under reduced speed. 
(4) By means of a cylinder, devised with valves for this purpose, into which the 
net was fitted, we secured samples at definite depths, or determined the vertical 
distribution of the fry by lifting the net through a fixed distance, a definite number 
of times. 
We thus endeavoured to make our determinations quantitative as well as quali- 
tative in character. The point from which we set out each morning, and to which 
we returned each evening was Malpeque wharf. We were farthest from home each 
day at noon, and samples were taken as opportunity offered on the return route as 
well. We are desirous at this point of the narrative to express our thanks and hearty 
appreciation for the kindly courtesies extended by Prof. A. D. Robertson, the use of 
whose boats and other equipment we shared, doubtless at times at a sacrifice of his 
convenience, at least, he being engaged in studying oyster growth. 
LOCALITIES EXAMINED. 
For purposes of location and orientation, the following descripton of Richmond 
bay is given: This bay is a considerable southward indentation from the gulf of 
St. Lawrence, of the north shore of Prince Edward Island. The coast at this point 
trends northwest, thus the western shore of the bay is one and a half times longer than 
its eastern. A sandbar 10 miles long separates the bay from the gulf, and limits its 
outlet to a channel a mile wide situated at the northern terminus (cape Aylesbury) 
of the eastern shore. Each shore has three considerable indentations. On the east, 
most northerly is Darnley basin, next comes Shipyard basin, and at the head of the 
bay is Chichester cove. On the west, situated correspondingly are Bideford river, 
Grand river, and Bentinck cove. 
