15 



taken the entire area upon which oysters are found, and I have therefore adopted the number of 

 O.L oysters to the square yard as the standard by which to determine the outlines, all positions 

 where the number fell below that standard being excluded from the beds, unless other circum- 

 stances have led me to a different decision. 



The light shades op the charts show the area occupied by scattered oysters, and, as already 

 explained, must be considered only approximate. The broken lines show areas where the oysters 

 are very widely separated. The dark lines have been drawn through those positions where the 

 number of oysters to the square yard was above the average. 



In designating* the oysters, the term "young growth" has been applied to the small oysters 

 that were evidently but one year or one and a half years old. The term "young" has been applied 

 to small oysters of the last brood that were found clinging to the mature oysters and old shells, 

 and were, on an average, about one-half or three quarters of au inch in length, or under. 



Tangier Sound extends north and south, in round numbers, 36 miles, from Watts' Island to 

 the head of Fishing Bay, and each side of the channel for 32 miles is lined with oyster beds of 

 greater or less extent. These beds are continued, though the oysters are generally scattered, 

 through Kedge's, Hooper's, and Holland Straits, and on the shoal between Smith's and Tangier 

 Islands. On each side of the channels into the Nanticoke, Manokin, and Big Annemessex Bivers, 

 beds are found, and to a less extent in the Wicomico and Little Aunemessex Bivers. 



By reference to the chart it will be seeu that the only parts of the sound unoccupied by oysters 

 are a short space, one mile in leugth, off Deil's Island, a space of two miles north of Jane's Island 

 Light and between the Big and Little Annemessex Bivers, and a stretch of 2£ miles on the western 

 side of the sound off Beach Hammock and the northern part of Tangier Island. 



With these exceptions, the oysters are to all intents continuous, and the total area covered by 

 them amounts to 69.12 square nautical miles. 



.The area of the beds proper, or that part of the total area on which the number of oysters to 

 the square yard was at least 0.1, is 17.97 square nautic tl miles. 



Whenever the names of the beds could be ascertained they have beeu given to them, but in 

 some cases they could not be, and I have included them under general heads. 



Taking them from the head of Fishing Bay in regular order, they are twenty-eight in number. 



FISHING BAY BEDS. 



Under this head I have included all the beds lying in Fishing Bay, north of Clay Island Light- 

 House, as they are subjected to similar influences of current, bottom, water, and temperature, and 

 present similar characteristics. Most of the beds are of small extent, and many have special names ; 

 but the printing of the latter would encumber the chart, and consequently they have been omitted. 

 Almost the entire bay, as far as Fishing Point, may be considered an oyster bed, oysters existing, 

 though very irregularly distributed in groups of greater or less extent, over the whole area, except 

 in the channel and close inshore. The groups, or "rocks," are represented on the chart by the 

 dark shades, and are forty-three in number, comprising a total area of 3,600,000 square yards. ^> 

 The remainder of the space, 25,605,000 square yards, is occupied by small groups and patches of 

 oysters, separated by large mud areas. 



.The beds or "rocks" become smaller as the head of the bay is approached; they grow about 

 any marked shoal, and all are somewhat broken by small mud sloughs, especially about the edges. 

 The center of each "rock," and noticeably on those in the middle and wider part of the bay, are 

 comparatively solid, and about such places the oysters were found in greater numbers than near 

 the mud sloughs aud channel. In the northern part of the bay the depth of water over the beds 

 is from 4 to 10 feet; over the southern part from 8 to 12 feet; the general depth, except in the 

 channel, is about 11 feet. 



The bottom in the northern part of the bay is hard, of shell mixed with mud, the stratum 

 being from 4 to 6 feet thick, over a stratum of sand on clay. The bottom surrounding the beds 

 was of mud. Soft, sandy bottoms were fouud along the shores, especially about Fishing Point 

 and about the mouths of creeks. On the western, northern, and northeastern shores, marked 

 "Planting Grounds" on the chart, the bottom was of clay with a light covering of mud on the 

 surface. On the southern beds the bottom is a stratum of oysters and shells mixed with mud, 1 



