364 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
. 
OTHER BAYS OF THE CALIFORNIA COAST. 
In Tomales Bay, Messrs. Weinard and Terry laid out about 17 car- 
loads of eastern oysters in 1875, They remained there only two or three 
years, until all were marketed or removed to more accessible places in 
San Francisco Bay. The experiment was not repeated. Capt. Law- 
son, one of the oldest residents upon Tomales Bay, says that these oys- 
ters lived and fattened as well apparently as those in San Francisco 
Bay. They were laid out at Millerton Station, near the southern end . 
of the bay, where some of the stakes used in fencing the bed are still 
standing. There is perhaps no reason why the extensive mudflats of 
Tomales Bay should not be used for laying out oysters in the same 
manner as is done in San Francisco. The bay is nowhere very deep. 
With two or three good-sized streams flowing into it, the natural con- 
ditions ought to prove very similar to those of San Francisco. It is 
18 miles long and averages 2 in breadth. There are no signs of the 
propagation of eastern oysters there, although Ostrea lurida is not 
(je AES, 
uncommon. 
Krom correspondents in southern California I have recently learned 
that eastern oysters are reported as propagating in San Diego Bay. A’ 
few years ago a quantity of oysters were placed there, and they still 
remain in good condition. It is said also that a lot of Mexican oysters, 
brought in a steamer from Guaymas several years ago, were found to 
be dying rapidly when the vessel arrived in San Diego Harbor, and 
were thrown overboard. It is claimed that survivors from this acci- 
dental planting are occasionally found. This bay, more than 400 miles 
south of San Francisco Bay, is much warmer, and it might be that the 
oyster of the Gulf of Calffornia, which failed to live in the cold water of 
San Irancisco Bay, would be a success in San Diego Bay. The greater 
part of this bay is shallow and there are extensive mudflats. There 
are no constant streams flowing into it, though False Bay, immediately 
north of it, receives San Diego River, a stream which cise Dear aae 
midsummer. 
Humboldt Bay, 200 miles north of San Francisco, is a large and shallow 
bay that may be found available for oyster-growing when the question 
oftemperature has been studied. By far the greater area of this bay 
consists of tide lands, exposed at low water. My personal recollection 
of Humboldt mudflats, visited in 1835, is that they are altogether firmer 
than those of San Francisco, the bottom being more sandy. 
Ballona Bay, near Santa Monica, in southern California, is a small bay 
where, | am informed, oysters have been placed and found to grow well, 
but it is not known whether they breed there. A report upon the small 
bays about Wilmington, near Los Angeles, has already been published 
by the Fish Commission.* 
“Report upon certain investigations relating to the planting of oysters in south- 
ern California. By Charles H. Gilbert. Bull. U.S. F. C., 1889, p. 95-98. - 
