76 



and quantity of the food, character of # bottom and water, and other matters, are only of interest 

 and desirable for the purpose of comparing one locality with another. Such was not the purpose 

 of this investigation, and consequently the determination of those points has been but incidental 

 to the work. 



Probably the fecundity of a bed is increased, to a certain extent, by working upon it. The 

 dredges or other implements used open the bed and spread it, thus giving more room for develop- 

 ment, and allowing a greater amount of food to reach the animals, and as the mortality is great in 

 all thickly-populated tracts and in any closely-united community, it is evident that no removal 

 of brood oysters could be effected without destroying the fecundity of the bed, did not this very 

 removal influence the mortality among the young so as to allow a larger number to come to matur- 

 ity. But the removal of brood oysters may become so great that the rnost.violent exertions of 

 nature to supply others are unequal to the demand, and it must be evident that as soon as the 

 number of brood oysters is thus diminished, the fecundity of the bed is impaired. 



This impairment constantly increases, influencing, as it does, both old and young. As the 

 number of the latter decrease, so will the number of the former, and as that number is agaiu and 

 again diminished, the number of young produced by them must constantly diminish. Thus the 

 cause for the destruction of the fecundity of the bed and the gradual extinction of the animals 

 upou it can be readily understood and as easily comprehended as the fact that the fecundity or 

 productive power of a bed depends upon the number of mature spawn-bearing oysters upon it. It 

 is not meant by this that none but the mature oysters are capable of reproduction, as such is not 

 the case, oysters of even six or nine months' growth having been observed by me with ripe ova 

 and spermatozoa in them, but the main dependence must be placed upon the adults in the com- 

 munity, as the spawn of the young growth is not considerable when compared with that of the 

 other class. 



Without a knowledge of the number of oysters on a bed it is impossible to say what number 

 should be removed, and as an attainment of the knowledge of the number on the bed is almost 

 inrpossible, all that can be done is to keep the ratios between the young and the mature as nearly 

 the same as on the natural beds; this should be the aim and result of all laws having the protection 

 of the beds in view. 



Eeferring to that portion of this report relating to the fecundity of the beds in the Sounds, 

 it is seen that in some cases the ratio of young to mature oysters is greater, and in other cases less, 

 than it should be, and that in a few cases the ratio seems to be within the prescribed limits. As 

 has been shown, the decreased ratios must be the result of a want of reproduction, while the 

 increase may be due to the removal of the mature oysters. 



If we take the total number of the oysters examined in the Sounds we will have a ratio express- 

 ing the general fecundity of the beds, and this ratio between 70,866 mature oysters and 36,824 

 young ones is 0.5. Assembling all the oysters counted on the beds in the bay we would have as a 

 ratio 1.5. 



Practically, none of the mature oysters had been removed from the beds in the bay, while 

 large numbers had been taken from those in the Sounds. The estimates for each show, approxi- 

 mately, how inany have been taken, and if by examination we find that the number of young 

 oysters taken off the beds in the Sounds greatly exceeds the number of mature removed, it may 

 be assumed that the restoration of both classes to the beds would be immediately shown by a 

 change in the ratio of young growth to mature oysters. By the estimate of 1878 we find that 

 184,600,000 mature and 148,800,000 young were removed, but as the number of young removed 

 would be less aud less during the season on account of the mortality among them, and as we have 

 found that mortality to be about 50 per cent., I will consider that the removal of the young during 

 the season of 1878 and 1879 probably did not exceed 74,400,000. Therefore the total number 

 removed was 259,000,000, of which 71 per cent, were mature, spawn-bearing oysters, and as 65 

 per cent, of the oysters at present on the beds are mature, the addition of the 260,000,000 removed 

 would raise this percentage to 68, which would make the ratio of young to old even smaller. 

 Consequently the small percentage of young is not due to the removal of that class during the 

 previous season. 



The two beds of which we have the most exact and complete statistical records in this season 



