STATE OF CONNECTICUT. 
REPORT. 
Lo His Excellency the Governor and the General Assembly of the State of 
Connecticut : 
The Commissioners of Shell Fisheries respectfully present their 
Third Annual Report. 
The work of the Commissioners during the past year may be con- 
sidered under the following divisions : 
1. Old grounds designated by Town Committees within State 
jurisdiction. 
2. Grounds designated by the Commissioners. 
Natural beds. 
Buoying. 
Mapping private grounds. 
Appraising and taxing grounds. 
General remarks, 
DY Rw 
OLD GROUNDS. 
Before the passage of the act of 1881, whereby the State grounds 
were placed in charge of your Commissioners, all designations were 
made by town committees. With few exceptions, these committees 
were composed of men more familiar with the water and its industries 
than with law. Although acting with the best intentions, their work 
was defective and incomplete. In many instances designations were 
made according to sketch maps, which were roughly lined out into 
rectangles, regardless of proportions or distances; each rectangle 
being supposed to enclose two acres. In describing a two-acre des- 
ignation it was generally said to be bounded by the adjoining owners; 
