3.-A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLICATIONS IN THE ENGLISH 

 LANGUAGE RELHIVE TO OYSTERS AND THE OYSTER 

 INDUSTRIES. 



By Charles H. Stevenson. 



INTRODUCTION. 



From the period of the Roman Empire to the present time, oysters 

 liave occupied a prominent position as a food product; and the grow- 

 ing, harvesting, and marketing of them have given employment to vast 

 numbers of persons and much capital. The subject has consequently 

 aftbrded an attractive theme for naturalists, historians, government 

 officials, political economists, and miscellaneous writers, and an anmz- 

 ing amount of information in reference thereto has been recorded. 

 This information is so widely distributed through publications and 

 periodicals of almost every description that to the casual inquirer the 

 literature of oysters and the oyster industries appears very meager. In 

 view of the growing attention bestowed on oysters in this country and 

 elsewhere, it is thought that the accompanying compilation of the 

 literature of the subject will supply a need of many persons directly or 

 indirectly interested in oysters and the industries dei^endent thereon. 



Several incomplete bibliographies on this subject have already been 

 published. One of these, consisting of 38 references, 26 of which are 

 to publications in foreign languages, appeared in an appendix to the 

 Report of the Maryland Fish Commission for 1881.* A second list, 

 giving the names of 70 papers in the English language, was published by 

 the Nederlandsche Dierknndige Vereeniging in 1883 1; this has been of 

 considerable assistance in the present compilation. In a recent report 

 by the writer on the oyster industry of Maryland| there was i^rinted a 

 list of 27 articles relating to the subject of that paper. None of these 

 reference lists, however, furnishes a satisfactory idea of the extent and 

 imijortance of oyster literature. 



*Report of T. B. Ferguson, a Commissioner of Fisheries of Maryland, January, 

 1881. Hagerstown, Md., 1881. 



t Verslag omtrent Onderzoekingen op de Oester en do Oestercultnnr betrekking 

 hebbende uitgebracht door de Commissie voor het Zoologisch Station der Xeder- 

 landsche Dierknndige Vereeniging. Leiden, Januari, 1883. 8°, 112 pp. 



tThe Oyster Industry of Maryland. By Charles H. Stevenson. Bulletin U. S. 

 Fish Comuussiou for 1892, pp. 203-297, plates i.vi-LXxr, Vv^ashington, 1891. 



305 

 F C 20 



