852 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Experiments were made with oysters supplied by Mr. Lane, of New 
Haven, Conn., the details of which are given in Part I, section D. 
The oysters had been brought from the James and Potomac Rivers, 
and “planted” in the beds in New Haven Harbor (Long Island Sound) 
in April, and were taken for analysis in tbe following November. 
Two experiments were made. The plan of each experiment con- 
sisted in analyzing two lots of oysters, of which both had been taken 
from the same bed at the same time, but one had been “ floated” while 
the other had not. For each of the two experiments, Mr. Lane selected 
from a boatload of oysters, as they were taken from the salt water, a 
number, about three dozen, which fairly represented the whole boat- 
load. The remainder were taken to the brackish water of a stream 
emptying into the bay and kept upon the floats for 48 hours, this being 
the usual practice in the floating of oysters in this region. At the 
end of that time, the oysters were taken from the floats, and a number 
fairly representing the whole were selected as before. Two lots, one 
floated and the other not floated, were thus taken from each of two dif- 
ferent beds. The four lots were brought to our laboratory for analysis. 
The principal results of the experiments described in Part I, Sec- 
tion D, and the inferences to be derived from them, may be briefly sum- 
marizrd as follows: 
RECAPITULATION OF RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTS. 
It will be remembered that the comparison was made between oysters 
analyzed in the condition in which they came from the beds in salt 
water and^hose which, taken from the same beds at the same time, had 
been “floated,” i. e. 9 kept for a time (in this case 48 hours) in brackish 
water, as is commonly done in preparing them for the market on the 
Atlantic coast of the United States. The methods employed for this 
purpose, of course, vary widely in different localities and times, so that 
these results can not be taken as an exact measure of the practical 
effect except in this particular case. At the same time it is noticeable 
that the results in these experiments seem to agree very well (so far as 
the increase of weight is concerned, at any rate) with those of ordinary 
practice. 
During the sojourn in brackish water both the flesh (body) and the 
liquid portion of the shell contents of the oysters suffered more or less 
alteration in composition. 
CHANGES IN THE FLESH. 
1. The changes in the constituents of the body were mainly such as 
would be caused by osmose (dialysis), though there were indications of 
secretion of nitrogenous matters, and especially of fats, which are not 
so easily explained by osmose. 
2. The amount of gain and loss of constituents, which The bodies of 
