224 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 8. 



second report of that commission has just ap- 

 peared. The most important work upon which 

 the commissioners have been engaged is that 

 of mapping the grounds within the state lim- 

 its suitable for the cultivation of oysters, and 

 assigning the same to those engaged in that 

 industrj', upon the payment of an almost nomi- 

 nal fee. Natural beds, or those which have 

 been so within ten years, are exempted from 

 assignment. The immediate result of this pol- 

 icy is to give to the 03'stermen a property in 

 the ground they use, protection against en- 

 croachment, and securitj' in the possession of 

 improvements thereon. This, in time, will 

 largeljr increase the yield of this valuable food- 

 supplj', and add to the taxable resources of 

 the state. At a time wheu the beds of the 

 Chesapeake are perilouslj^ near a destruction, 

 which, under the present conditions of folly, 

 ignorance, and greed in those most interested, 

 is inevitable, the action of the state of Con- 

 necticut assumes a national importance. The 

 work of surveying the coast with the co-oper- 

 ation of the U.S. coast survey has been ac- 

 tively carried on, and in its most important 

 features has been carried out for that part of 

 the shore west from the Connecticut river. 

 By the commencement of the working-season 

 of 1883, it is believed that 90,000 acres of 

 oyster-grounds will be held by cultivators under 

 state jurisdiction. A new mode of cultivation, 

 or capture of spat for seed on muddj' bottoms, 

 has been invented at Groton. Birch-trees of 

 fifteen or twenty feet in height, and three or 

 four inches in diameter at the butt, are thrust 

 about three feet into the mud, with the tops 

 under the surface of the lowest water, and in- 

 clined at an angle of some 45° with the current. 

 The floating spat attaches itself to the branch- 

 es, and grows rapidlj' ; a single bush affording, 

 in a few months, five to fifteen bushels of seed- 

 03'sters, none of which would have survived 

 settling on the muddy bottom. An absurd 



claim was made, that these submerged bushes 

 produced scarlet-fever and diphtheria, and 

 man^' were destroyed ; but the plan has recently 

 received legal recognition, and, with proper 

 effort, can be made to produce millions of 

 bushels of oj'sters where is now only waste 

 ground. 



The oyster-business in all its branches has 

 attained greater perfection in Connecticut 

 waters than in anj' other part of the country. 

 It is usualljf verj- profitable, but subject to 

 unexpected and sometimes ruinous losses. 

 Thousands of bushels of oysters have been 

 destroyed on one patch in a week by starfish. 

 A firm is mentioned which in two j'ears, off 

 Charles Island, has lost 03'sters valued at one 

 hundred thousand dollars. The starfish seem 

 to move in crowds, which scatter when the}' 

 reach a bed, and devour all before them. One 

 fisherman, while searching for them, came 

 upon an immense bunch, and gathered in sev- 

 entj'-five bushels of starfish in a short time, 

 thus saving his bed. The coot (Fulica atra) , 

 it has been discovered, feeds upon j'oung star- 

 fish, and its protection is recommended. The 

 drill (Urosalpinx cinereus Stimps.) and peri- 

 winkle (Sj'cot\'pus canaliculatus Gill), as well 

 as the drumfish, are reported to do but incon- 

 siderable damage, especiall}' in the deeper 

 waters. The pollution of rivers falling into 

 the Sound, the dumping of mud dredged out 

 of harbors, and 03'ster-thieving, are referred 

 to, and legislative regulations suggested. The 

 propagation of the oj-ster has been attempted, 

 but thus far with little prospect of success, on 

 account of the extreme minuteness and deli- 

 cacy of the embrj'os. Without radical im- 

 provement on present methods, this branch of 

 the subject offers no grounds for belief in its 

 practical application to economic purposes. 

 The report contains a map of the triangulation 

 executed, and an appendix of statutes bearing 

 on the general topic. 



WJEJI;KL¥ summary of the PROaBESS OF SCIENCE. 



ASTRONOMY. 



Comet (Brooks-Swift). — The spectrum of this 

 comet was examined at Lord Crawford's observatory, 

 Dun Echt, Scotland, on the evening of Marcli 1, and 

 found to be fairly bright, and to consist of the usual 

 three bands. — (Dun Echt circular, No. "71. ) T>. p. T. 



[473 



The mass of Jupiter. — In a paper published in 

 the Proceedings of (he Royal Swedish academy 

 (1882), Dr. Backlund develops the formulae by which . 

 the correction to the mass of Jupiter may be derived 



from heliometric observations of the distances and 

 position-angles of the satellites inter se, and not, as 

 usual, from the planet. He is engaged upon a new 

 determination of this character. The chief advan- 

 tage in this method is, that measures of the star-like 

 satellites from each other are much less likely to be 

 affected by constant errors than are measures of the 

 satellites from tlie planet. The number of unknown 

 quantities in his final equations is twelve ; six obser- 

 vations, at least, being required in order to obtain 

 all the corrections to the elements. — {Copernicus, 

 Feb.) D. p. T. [474 



