THE COAST FISHERIES OF TEXAS. 387 
The quality of Texas oysters compares favorably with that of those 
found on the Atlantic coast. They are quite similar to the ‘ Western 
Shores” of the Chesapeake Bay, or those obtained from the ‘ Kettle 
Bottoms” in the Potomac River. Inthe spring, on account of the large 
quantities of fresh water that fill the bays, the oysters are frequently 
rather fresh, but they are nearly always fat. Except from November to 
March, the oysters in Texas spawn to a limited extent at all periods in 
the year, but more particularly during the first half of May. 
These oysters are quite free from a number of enemies and adverse 
agencies common on the middle Atlantic coast. Starfish are not known 
in Texas, drills are not abundant, and an excellent set of oysters is 
secured nearly every year. But the Texas oyster industry has its own 
troubles, the greatest being the destruction caused by heavy freshets 
in the spring. All the rivers and estuaries of Texas, except the Rio 
Grande and Brazos, empty their waters into the bays along the coast, 
and every spring more or less damage is done to the oysters by the fresh 
water with which some of the bays are filled for several days if the 
wind be favorable for such a condition. Happily, however, it rarely 
oceurs that the oysters on all the beds in any one bay are destroyed in 
this manner. 
Another trouble which exists here to a considerable extent is the 
damage done by the drumfish. These are very numerous in all the 
bays along this coast, and they do much injury, especially where oys- 
ters have been taken from the reefs and bedded to await a more favor- 
able market. Occasionally an oysterman builds a picket fence around 
his bedded oysters to prevent damage from this source, but this prac- 
tice is not general. 
OYSTER BEDS, LOCATION, AREA, ETC, 
In all the bays and at the mouths of the rivers along the coast where 
the water is of suitable density more or less area of oyster reefs may 
be found. On account of the earlier settlement and the larger popula- 
tion in that vicinity, the reefs in Galveston Bay have been longer known 
and more extensively fished on than those of any other section. Mata- 
gorda Bay undoubtedly has at present the finest supply of oysters on 
the Texas coast, although the area of natural beds in that bay known 
to the fishermen is not so great as in Galveston Bay ; but owing to 
poor shipping facilities, the Matagorda grounds are not so extensively 
fished on as those in other bays. Corpus Christi has recently acquired 
considerable prominence, and a greater development of the oyster re- 
sources of that locality is probable. The inland water route connecting 
the chain of bays from Matagorda to Corpus Christi will naturally unite 
the oyster business of the towns on the shores, enabling each market at 
all times to obtain a supply from any one of these bays. 
The bottoms of the Texas bays may be classified generally as shift- 
ing sand, muddy, grassy, and hard. The shifting sand oflers no 
