OYSTER BOTTOMS OF MISSISSIPPI SOUND, ALA. 13 



Details of Examination of Kings Bayou Reef. 



TMs reef, as defined in the present report, consists of a number 

 of detached bodies of oysters varpng from 1 to upward of 100 acres 

 each. The name is apparently somewhat mdefinitely apphed, but 

 is used here to designate the series of beds beginning with that l}^ng 

 south of the wreck buoy off Cedar Point and stretching northward 

 for a distance of about If miles. This apparently includes all or part 

 of what Ritter describes as Birmingham Reef. The large area lying 

 south of the buoy is connected with Cedar Point Reef by an area of 

 very scattering growth which doubtless marks an original line of 

 separation between the two, over which oysters have been spread by 

 the operation of dredges. In general all of these beds have sharply 

 defined borders, rising abruptly a foot or two above the surrounding 

 muddy bottom. They are resorted to principally by dredgers to 

 whose use they are set apart by law. The oysters are in clusters. 



The distribution of« oysters according to density of growth is 

 shown in the following table : 



Oyster Growth on Buoy Reef. 



