evil 



' egg, I found tliat continuous warm weather was essen- 

 ' tial to success. As my observations upon tlie devel- 

 ' oping eggs occui3ied all my time, I was not able to 

 ' make any record of the temperature of the water of 

 ' the ocean, but during June there were a number of 

 ' cold, windy days and nights, and two hail-storms, and 

 ' on each of the cold days all the embryo which I had 

 in the house died. 



'' At first sight it does not seem possible that an ani- 

 mal which is encased in a hard, strong, protecting 

 shell, and which is cax3able of giving rise to several 

 million eggs every season, can be in any danger of 

 extermination ; and it seemxS as if the oyster ought to 

 be able to hold its own in the struggle for existence, 

 and to increase and multiply in the fa^ce of the most 

 adverse circumstances. 



" It appears wonderful that the Avaters of the Chesa- 

 peake Bay are not x)aved with oysters, and persons 

 who have not given much thought to the subject will 

 ridicule the statement that there is any need for meas- 

 ures to jjr event their extermination or the destruction 

 of the natural beds. While the consumption of oys- 

 ters was restricted to regions in the immediate vicinity 

 of the beds, the number of oysters which it would pay 

 to gather and put into the market each season from 

 each bed was limited ; but with the present facilities 

 for packing and transporting oysters, there is no limit 

 to the number which can be utilized, and the danger 

 of destroying the best beds grows greater every day, 

 and keeps pace with the increasing population and 

 improvements in transportation." 



After giving some statistics of the catch of oysters in 

 the Bay of Cancale, Dr. Brooks further remarks : 



" The table also shows that it will not answer to rely 

 " upon the very great numl)er of eggs, and therefore 

 "trust to a few oysters the work of replenishing the 

 "bed. 



