23 



was of an oval form, flat beneath and rounded on the 

 back, so that the resemblance when the large foot like 

 cilia were in motion, carrying the animal about, was 

 strikingly like a very minute tortoise, the resemblance 

 being heightened when the animal was viewed from the 

 side. 



Rod-like algae, of minute size, the larvae of Crustacea, 

 especially the vast numbers of extremely small larval 

 Copepoda must enter as a perceptible factor into the food 

 supply of the oyster. 



There is no doubt but that the comparatively quies- 

 cent condition of the head waters of these inlets and 

 creeks, available as oyster planting grounds, are more 

 favorable to the propagation of minute life than the open 

 bay or creeks, where the temperature is lower and less 

 constant. Practically, this is found to be true. For 

 oystermen seem to be generally agreed that oysters 

 ^^fatten" more rapidly, that is, feed more liberally in the 

 head-waters, blind extremities of the creeks, than else- 

 where. This notion of the oystermen is in agreement 

 with my own observations during the past year. Oyster- 

 men also assert that oysters "fatten" more rapidly in 

 shallow waters than in deep ones, a point upon which I 

 made but few observations, but such as I did make ten- 

 ded to confirm such an opinion. In illustration I may 

 contrast the condition of the oysters in the pond leased 

 by the Commission at St. Jerome* s and those dredged off 

 Pt. Lookout in 20 or 30 feet of water, on the 3d day of 

 October, 1880. The oysters in the pond, by the middle 

 or end of September, were in good condition as to flesh 

 and marketable, while those from deeper water off Pt. 

 Lookout and but little later in the season, were still ex- 

 tremely poor, thin and watery and utterly unflt for mar- 

 ket. These differences in condition, it seems to me, are 

 to be attributed in a great measure to differences of tem- 

 perature and the abundance of food, but mainly to the 

 latter. 



