286 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



In the oyster regions of Apalachicola Bay the survey made in the win tor of 1805-00 

 by the Fish Haictfs party showed the condition of the beds with great detail. The 

 oysters there were found in clusters, and ranged in size from very small to full si/e in 

 each cluster, the crowding of the oysters in the clusters being a serious retardation to 

 their growth. In addition, the whole mass was invariably thickly covered with mus- 

 sels, so that without doubt great good would result in breaking up and separating the 

 oysters of the clusters. In the Apalachicola work the average number of oysters to 

 the square yard was taken on the different beds, with a view to forming a comparison 

 at a future survey, and thus determine the increase or decrease of each bed. 



The questions of temperature and food supply are very important; the former 

 affects the spawning season directly, and the latter depends to a great degree on the 

 currents. Generally speaking, the spawning season extends from the middle of April 

 to the middle of July, but these limits of time vary with the temperature to a consid- 

 erable degree, a cool spring causing a late spawning season. However, it is probable 

 that in the waters under consideration the oysters spawn to a greater or less degree 

 all the year around. This is evidenced by the fact that the spat is observed in all 

 stages of development during the year. It is generally considered that oysters reach 

 a spawning age at the end of three or four years. 



The current concerns the food supply materially, the bottoms most favorable to 

 oyster growth, as those over which there is gentle now, changing in direction as the 

 tide changes from ebb to flood. The long, narrow reefs which form the beds are 

 almost invariably at right angles to the direction of flow of the current, and the 

 banking up of the water caused by its meeting an obstruction in the form of the bed 

 gives it an increased velocity, so that usually the locality of the bed is at once shown 

 by the tide rip. Of course, at slack water no such material aid is given in finding the 

 beds. It is a singular fact that almost without exception the beds are crescent- 

 shaped, with their concave surfaces all on the same side of the areas of the beds. 



The enemies of the Florida oysters are few in number. The starfish, the pest of 

 oysters in Long Island Sound and other localities, is rarely found, and the loss from 

 injury by drills is very small. Parasitic growths, in the form of mussels and barnacles, 

 are injurious; but they may hardly be classed as enemies, as their harmful effects are 

 indirect. It may be said that the Florida oysters are singularly free from exposure 

 to enemies that oysters of other sections are subjected to. 



The three great natural conditions that work destruction to the beds are the 

 freezes, hurricanes, and freshets that occasionally occur, and the first two take place 

 principally in the northern sections of the coast. The cause of the deterioration of 

 the beds other than from natural sources is almost invariably due to overworking. 

 The demand is too great for the supply, and the beds are worked until they no longer 

 yield profitable results, and usually until they are so depleted that years are required 

 for them to recuperate. Add to these causes the facts that the oystermen are so 

 shortsighted that they pay little attention, as a rule, to the laws regarding culling and 

 taking undersized oysters, and it can readily be seen that there is a small chance for 

 the productiveness of the beds to increase. Fortunately, dredging is prohibited by 

 law, and it is the one law that is usually observed, and only because the use of dre<l 

 would be immediately noticed and complained of. Again, dredging as practiced in 

 the North could not easily be carried on advantageously, on account of the shoal water. 



As measures for the improvement of the beds, I would recommend that no oysters 

 be taken from April 15 to October 15; that the law now in force regarding the culling 



