NOXIOUS AND VALUABLE ANIMALS. 35? 



is, a degree of cold so great as to cover the bottom with a coating 

 of ice, and thereby to cut off* the oysters from all access to air and 

 nourishment. This is said to have happened about the year 1780 ; 

 previous to which time, no oysters were brought from more southern 

 waters. Immense beds of the shells of oysters which died at that time 

 are said to be still visible in the neighbourhood of Wellfleet. 



The above opinion is not, however, strictly correct. That no beds 

 of native oysters are found at all adequate to the supply of the market, 

 is true. But old men relate that they were accustomed to go up 

 Mystic River and Charles River, and gather oysters of great size, be- 

 fore it was the custom to bring them from New York. And even 

 now, individuals of enormous size are occasionally brought from both 

 these places, and probably might be found, by special search, at any 

 time. Moreover, from Dr. J. B. Forsyth, I learn that, in all probabil- 

 ity, the native oyster is abundant on the south shore of Cape Cod. 

 The following are extracts from his letter. 



" Sandwich, June 15, 1840. 

 "DEAR FRIEND, 



" I embrace the first opportunity to give you some account of the 

 Oyster found in the western part of this town, lying upon Buzzard's 

 Bay. 1 have consulted several aged men in this vicinity, some eighty 

 years of age, and they inform me that there has always been an abun- 

 dance of the fish in these waters, ever since their remembrance ; and 

 it has never come to their knowledge that oysters were ever brought 

 there from any foreign location. They are found along the shores of 

 the bay for several miles, but are much more abundant in two or three 

 locations. They seem to multiply with great rapidity, and the whole 

 shore seems to be lined with them, so that at low water you could, 

 at almost any point, procure a bucket full of them from the rocks. 



41 1 am also informed, that great numbers are taken in the region of 

 Wareham, a few miles from our beds, and should conjecture that, from 

 their proximity of location, they must have had a common origin with 

 ours. 



" There is a statute in force which imposes a penalty for catching 

 any of these fish and carrying them out of the town ; and no citizen 

 has a right to take for his own use more than one or two bushels at any 

 one time. The oysters are generally collected by a few men, who bring 

 them to the village and dispose of them at fifty cents a bushel, for 

 their trouble ; and by selling half a bushel or a bushel to an individual, 



