REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 123 
During the years 1878 and 1879, Lieut. Francis Winslow, U. 8. Navy, 
then attached to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, made a very 
detailed study of the oyster bottom in Tangier and Pocomoke sounds, in 
the course of which he determined accurately the positions and outlines 
of all the oyster beds and calculated the number of living oysters 
upon them to the square yard. The small proportion of live oysters 
to the quantity of dead shells and other débris, which he discovered 
to exist, occasioned much surprise, and also furnished tangible proof 
of the gradual depletion of the beds through overfishing. A few years 
later Prof. W. K. Brooks, of Johns Hopkins University, made a second 
but less exhaustive examination of the same ground. 
‘The plans for the present survey and the methods to be pursued in 
executing them were based upon those of Lieut. Winslow, but with 
some changes and additions. Besides the customary hydrographic 
and physical observations, the outlines of all the natural oyster-beds 
or “rocks” and of the areas of scattered oysters are to be accurately 
determined, and also the characteristics of the entire bottom not oceu- 
pied by oysters. The following are among the principal facts to be 
ascertained regarding the condition of the beds and of the oyster crop: 
The number of oysters of different sizes and the relative quantity of 
débris to the square yard, and also the composition of the latter; the 
abundance and distribution of the set of spat with reference to the 
physical conditions of the water; the size at which oysters begin to 
‘spawn, the limits of the spawning season, and the proportion of ripe 
Spawners on the beds at any time; the character and abundance of 
natural enemies, and the general natural history of the grounds. The 
inquiry differs entirely in character from that previously made in South 
Carolina, in that it has to deal with grounds which have long been drawn 
‘upon, instead of with crude and undeveloped resources. The region 
is a natural and typical producing district, and the information which 
it is expected to obtain from the work now in progress will be sug- 
gestive in regard to future surveys on any part of the coast. The States 
directly interested in the investigation, Maryland and Virginia, are 
chiefly concerned to know the conditions of their grounds and the 
manner in which they may be extended and enriched, and also to 
obtain the necessary data on which to base a standard of production 
for defining the natural or public beds in case the present movement to 
permit the lease of oyster bottom to private parties shall be carried out. 
Mr. John D. Battle has acted as chief assistant in connection with 
the hydrographic work, and has also been in charge of the observations 
upon the material obtained by dredging, while special biological sub- 
jects have been attended to by Mr. J. Perey Moore, of the University 
of Pennsylvania. Much delay was occasioned in the beginning from 
the fact that nearly all of the original triangulation points established 
in this region by the Coast Survey had disappeared, and the shore lines 
had also been greatly modified by the action of the currents since the 
