94 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



from their support and rolled about by rough seas, may be found dis 

 persed near the shore and at long distances from oyster-beds. Under all 

 these conditions many oysters must become separated from their support 

 and tumble into soft mud, or fall with the flat side downwards, burying 

 the open edge of the shell, or become covered with sediment or drifting 

 sand. I have no doubt that the strong ciliation of the gills, palps and 

 mantle, can do a great deal in clearing away mud, silt, and ooze, so as to 

 permit free access of water; but the adult oyster is a very helpless animal 

 as compared with its relatives and associates, since it possesses no foot or 

 other organ by means of which to creep out of the mud or turn itself over. 

 Neither can it eat its way out, although mud is often found in its in- 

 testine. As a result, vast numbers succumb to the -ruthless processes of 

 nature, their shells serving as points of fixation or sinking into and stiffening 

 the soft bottom and thus preparing better prospects for coming gener- 

 ations. 



The kind of rock upon which oysters may be fixed does not appear to 

 exercise any direct limiting influence. Sandstone, granite, limestone, 

 may be equally tenanted, and the soils derivable therefrom may be of an 

 arenaceous, argillaceous, calcareous or other nature. But, judging from 

 the great importance of the shell as an organ of defence against predaceous 

 fish, as well as of fixation and support, it would seem that there may be 

 some advantage from the proximity of limestone. 



There is an observable likeness in the situation, direction of extension, 

 and protection at the entrance of our best oyster-producing bays that 

 doubtless has something to do with their fitness for this purpose. Their 

 situation on the eastern and north-eastern coasts of New Brunswick and 

 Prince Edward Island and to a smaller extent of Cape Breton may oc- 

 casion their general eastern and western extension with eastern outlets. 

 The bays of 1jhe southern coast of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia with a 

 general northern and southern extension and outlet are not oyster pro- 

 ducers, although they are farther south and nearer the great oyster areas 

 of the United States. Bedeque and Hillsborough bays, opening on the 

 south-western side of Prince Edward Island, can hardly be called good 

 oyster bays, and the former is almost depleted of oysters while the best 

 parts of the latter are so far inland as to almost count as belonging to the 

 north-eastern coast. 



Structure of Typical Oyster Bays. — Caraquet, Bay du Vin, Richi- 

 bucto, Buctouche, Cocagne, Shediac, Malpeque, are typical of our oyster 

 producing bays, and they are each guarded by a promontory, w^hich is con- 

 tinued as a chain of islands, a sand-reef or sand-dunes, that act as a natural 

 break-water and protect against the larger, deeper, colder, more restless, 

 irresistible and stormier body of water outside. 



It may be noted that Caraquet, Buctouche, Cocagne, and most of the 

 smaller oyster systems are of a simple type — each with its river, bay, and 



