NATURAL OYSTER BEDS OF DELAWARE. 7 



DESCRIPTION OF OYSTER GROUNDS. 

 BOMBAY BED. 



This is the northernmost public oyster bed within the confines of 

 Delaware. Its northern limit is opposite the upper pier at Woodland 

 Beach, and its southern end is a little below the small creek known 

 locally as Tombstone. Its inner or southwestern edge is from 200 to 

 400 yards from shore, the average width of the bed is about one- 

 fourth mile, and the total length slightly in excess of 1 mile. 



The estimated area, density of growth, and contents of the bed 

 are as follows: 



Oyster Growth on Bombay Bed. 



The dense area comprises a broad strip running along the entire 

 inshore edge of the bed. The scattering areas are two, the larger 

 lying near the middle of the outer edge of the bed and the smaller, a 

 very narrow strip, on the offshore edge of the lower end. Both 

 merge more or less gradually into the dense area with which they are 

 continuous. The area of very scattering growth is a small patch 

 situated near the offshore part of the upper end of the bed, in the 

 midst of the depleted bottom. The latter appears to be a formerly 

 moderately productive area which has become covered by a deposit 

 of mud and now produces no oysters, although there are numerous 

 buried shells lying on a hard bottom about 6 inches beneath the 

 present surface. This bed differs from all others of the region treated 

 in this report in being founded on a stony bottom, a considerable 

 proportion of the oysters taken being attached to rock fragments. 

 The oysters are in small clusters, with thin, sharp shells. Small 

 oysters predominate, not only numerically but by measure. No 

 drills were found and, reasoning from the low salinity of the water, 

 probably do not occur. The specific gravity of the water at the time 

 of examination, July 10, 1910, was about 1.005, and it is likely that 

 the bed suffers periodically during freshets. The average depth of 

 water is about 8 to 10 feet. 



It was reported that there were oysters between the piers, but none 

 were found, although there were a few attached to the piling and 

 lying on the bottom in its vicinity. 



