JiooT 



During the past 40 years immense 

 quantities of Atlantic oysters have been 

 transplanted to the Pacific coast, and a 

 large business has sprung up which sur- 

 passes that in the natives.* It is neces- 

 sary, however, to renew the supply an- 

 nually, particularly in Oregon and 

 Washington, where the water is of too 

 low a temperature to permit the eggs of 

 the transplanted oysters to develop. 

 This difficulty may eventually be over- 

 come, and an oyster fully equal to that 

 of the Atlantic be produced, by the ac- 

 climatization from the coast of Japan of 

 a large oyster that is able to spawn in 

 relatively cold water. Experiments to 

 this end have been undertaken with 

 promising results. 



Tn the warmer water of San Fran- 

 cisco Bay the conditions for oyster cul- 



ture are dififerent. and there a very 

 extensive and peculiar kind of oyster 

 farming has sprung up. The grounds 

 are surrounded by stockades, principally 

 for the purpose of protecting the beds 

 from the inroads of strong-jawed sting- 

 rays, which at times enter San Francisco 

 Bay in schools, and would crush and de- 

 vour large quantities of marketable oys- 

 ters unless excluded by the stockades. 

 Within the inclosures the planting, trans- 

 planting, growing, gathering, and culling 

 are done under ideal conditions. 



A large oyster, similar to our Atlantic 

 species, grows in great abundance in the 

 Gulf of California, and is eaten in lim- 

 ited quantities in the adjacent parts of 



* See Nation.m, Geographic ]\rAGAzi.\K. June. 

 1907. for a fuller account of the transplar.tini^ 

 of Eastern ovsters on the Western seaboard. 



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