(APPENDIX No. 11, COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY REPORT FOR 1881.) 



REPORT ON THE OYSTER BEDS OFTHE JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA, AND OF TANGIER 

 AND P0C0M0KE SOUNDS, MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. 



By FRANCIS WIKSLOW, Master XT. S. ISTavy, Assistant Coast and Geodetic Survey, 



Commanding Schooner Palinurus. 



PREFACE. 



In editing the following reports, it has been ray endeavor, while preserving the original form 

 and design, to omit such matters as would be of no interest to the public, but which were properly 

 communicated to the Superintendent of the Survey. Of such a character I have considered the 

 history of the work, in so much as it related to the difficulties encountered in its prosecution, and 

 the various recommendations as to special matters connected with future operations. I have also 

 considered that the same minuteness of description, either of methods or results, which was mani- 

 festly proper in a report to my superior, would be unnecessary in a paper intended for general cir- 

 culation. I have, therefore, in some parts, condensed the reports considerably, though always with 

 care that the reader should expeiience no difficulty in following the steps- by which I reached any 

 conclusion. 



In the manuscript reports and in letters to the late Superintendent, I have frequently testified 

 to the kindness and assistance rendered me by the inhabitants of Grisfield, Md., and of the shores 

 of the sounds, and I wish to again express, in a more public manner, my appreciation of their efforts, 

 and especially my indebtedness to Mr. T. S. Hodson, the collector of the port. My thanks are also 

 due to the members of the Johns Hopkins Zoological School, to Prof. S. F. Baird, United States 

 Fish Commissioner, to Mr. T. B. Ferguson, Maryland Fish Commissioner, to Mr. H. J. Rice, and 

 Mr. W. H. Dall, and especially to Dr. W. K. Brooks for assistance rendered me. 



As such success as has attended my labors in this field is largely due to the zealous and effi- 

 cient co-operation of my brother officers and companions on board the Palinurus, I have felt it their 

 due that their contributions to the results should be known. I have accordingly prefixed to each 

 report the names of my assistants and have specified those portions of the work for which they are 

 i n a measure responsible. 



I regret that it is not in my power to more adequately express my appreciation of the zeal and 

 energy they displayed, the arduous nature of their labors in the field, and the good judgment they 

 showed in the compilations assigned them in the office, and while it is difficult to make a distinction, 

 I feel my indebtedness to Master H. H. Barroll, U. S. N., to be greater than to any other one con- 



nected with the investigation. 



FRANCIS WINSLOW, 



Lieutenant, U. S. -A 7 ". 



INSTRUCTIONS. 



The instructions of the Superintendent, dated August 2, 1878, directed that the investigation 

 of the oyster beds should include the following: 



1. The determination of the positions and areas of the oyster beds of the Chesapeake and its 

 adjacent waters and tne depth of water over them both at high and low water. 



2. The determination of the character of the beds ; whether natural or artificial ; whether the 



