110 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 
ATLANTIC COAST. 
OYSTER INVESTIGATIONS. 
LONG ISLAND SOUND. 
The steamer Fish Hawk, Lieut. Robert Platt, U. 8S. N., commanding, 
was at work upon the oyster-grounds of Long Island Sound during a 
part of both 1889 and 1890, In the former year the investigations were 
begun on August 18 and terminated on October 8; in the latter year 
they continued from June 11 until October 16. 
During the season of 1889, Dr. C. F. Hodge, of Clark U niversity, 
served as naturalist, and the operations were restricted chietly to dredg- 
ing on and about the oyster beds, and to experimenting with traps and 
other devices intended for the capture of starfishes. Certain state- 
ments having gained currency, to the effect that the waters of Long 
Island Sound do not interchange freely with the waters of the open 
ocean, and are thereby rendered more or less stagnant and impure 
from the accumulation of town sewage and the effects of the dumping- 
grounds, to the serious detriment of the oyster beds, the greater part 
of the season of 1890 was occupied in making physical and chemical 
investigations to determine the actual sanitary condition of the region, — 
but after their completion the dredging and natural-history work was 
again taken up. Mr. E. HE. Haskell was detailed by the Superintendent 
of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to conduct the physical inqui- 
ries, while Mr. Fred Neher, of Princeton College, was employed to make 
the chemical observations. The natural-history work was attended to 
by Mr. James E. Benedict, of the U.S. National Museum, and Mr. W. C. 
Kendall, of the Fish Commission. 
The natural oyster beds of Connecticut are restricted to the bays and 
inlets and to the shallow waters near the shore, extending sometimes, 
however, into depths of 3 to 5 fathoms. The artificial or planted beds 
are for the most part outside of the natural ones, and they have been 
carried in some instances as far as the middle of the sound, and into 
depths oceasionally of 13 to 14 fathoms. Both the natural and planted 
beds are mostly limited to the western half of the sound, comparatively 
few areas occurring to the eastward of New Haven Harbor. The Fish 
Commission obtained for its use, through the courtesy of the State Fish 
Commission, a complete set of the engineer’s charts showing the exact 
position of all the grounds sold for planting purposes. The same data 
has since been published by the Connecticut Bureau of Labor Statistics 
on a smaller scale, and in a very convenient form for reference. An 
examination of these charts shows that the area of bottom which has 
been sold for oyster purposes is relatively very large, covering up to 
1889 atotal extent of over 78,000 acres. It must be borne in mind, how- 
ever, that not all of this bottom has been planted with oysters; in some 
