84 SHELL-FISH COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. [Jan., 
Four applications; area 1,591 acres, claims of previous 
occupants respected by the applicants, - - - 1,591.0 
Five applications were objected to, - : - - 500.0 
Six applications are within the limits of the reserve made 
by Stratford Committee, _—_- - - - - 1,065.0 
Ten deeds have been canceled from failure of payment. 
Area as applied for, - - - - - - 4,780.0 
Area applied for not within the jurisdiction of the State, 1,224.5 
13,160.5 
Deeds have been prepared for thirty-eight applications, aggre- 
gating 14,747.8 acres. ‘The area of the applications not yet sur- 
veyed is about 5,000 acres. The amount named is indefinite, as a 
record search is necessary to discover to what extent our surveys 
are complete. A careful investigation leads me to the opinion 
that the State will realize on a sale of over 20,000 acres of the 
ground already applied for, December Ist. 
THE METHOD OF RECEIVING THE APPLICATIONS. 
The first work done by the office was to obtain tracings of all 
the maps of oyster grounds that came within our knowledge. I 
was ably assisted in this matter by Mr. D. C. Sanford. The three 
sections of the coast-survey chart were pasted together, and thus a 
map of the wholeterritory was found. The scale is small indeed, being 
one in 80,000, or about one and a quarter miles to the inch As 
fast as tracings were secured, they were reduced to conform to the 
scale of the coast-survey map and transferred to it. The applica- 
tions were attached by approximate descriptions to these grounds 
or if in new territory to recognizable points, and thus we received 
and mapped for holding purposes and without serious interference 
the one hundred and nineteen applications. 
THE PALINURUS. 
The presence of the United States Coast and Geodetic survey 
schooner Palinurus has been a great help to us. The work per- 
formed by her commander has been threefold, namely: determi- 
nation of points of general use to the service, investigations of the 
methods used in and the existing conditions of the Connecticut 
