REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 111 
parts of the region the proportion under cultivation is relatively small, 
and a part of the designated area is unsuited to oyster-planting in its 
present condition. Just what extent of bottom is now in actual tse 
it has been impossible to ascertain. 
The waters of Long Island Sound within the territory of Connecticut 
(the State line being midway of the sound) are divided into a number 
of districts by straight lines extending due north and south, each dis- 
trict being named after the adjacent township. In nearly all of the 
western districts a certain area has been set aside as a dumping-ground 
for the materials dredged up in the course of the improvements in the 
neighboring harbors and river mouths. While these dunping-grounds 
have well-defined boundaries, and it is intended that no refuse shall be 
deposited elsewhere, they have come to have a rather unenviable repu- 
tation among the oystermen, who consider them the source of many of 
their troubles. 
While the attention of the Fish Commission was first requested 
toward the depredations of starfishes upon the oyster beds, so many 
other questions have since been raised respecting the conditions of 
the latter that it has become necessary to greatly increase the scope 
of the inquiry and to give it rather the character of a general inves- 
tigation. 
In 1889 the work was begun in the Norwalk district and was ecar- 
ried thence eastward through the Westport, Fairfield, Bridgeport, 
Stratford, and Milford districts, into Orange district. Dredgings were 
made at frequent intervals, and sometimes under guidance of the 
owners of oyster territory, who were able to indicate particular locali- 
ties where starfishes were then abundant. The oyster traps were also 
set under many different conditions, but always with practically nega- 
tive results, as explained below. In 1890 the physical and chemical 
examinations occupied nearly all the time from the beginning of the 
season until the middle of September. Self-registering tide gauges 
were first established at New London and New Haven, Conn., and at 
Willets Point, N. Y., after which observations upon the direction and 
velocity of the currents were made at regular intervals between the 
mouth of the Connecticut River and East River, by means of the Ritchie- 
Haskell electrical meter. The chemical analyses of the water were con- 
ducted in the same connection, and covered samples taken from every 
_ variety of location, from the harbors and river mouths to the outer and 
_ deeper portions of the sound. The subsequent dredging operations 
were chiefly restricted to Bridgeport and Stratford districts, and were 
carried on with greater detail and precision than in 1889, stations being 
made at regular intervals of half a mile in both directions. In this 
_ manner it was expected to obtain a continuous record showing the 
character and condition of the bottom. 
Both the physical and chemical investigations were conclusive in 
_ demonstrating that, so far as regards the general conditions of the 
