32 



prices, but shoiild be solely regulated b}^ the amount of 

 increase upon the beds. 



"The preservation of the oyster beds is as much a 

 question of statesmanship as the preservation of forests." 



The foregoing suggestions, emanating from such high 

 authority, serve to enforce what has been said in relation 

 to dredging and the constitution of the banks and their 

 extension. The possibilities which seem to await devel- 

 opment along the shores of Virginia and Maryland at the 

 hands of enterprising oyster-culturists are almost limit- 

 less, unless, as may be the case, given areas of waters 

 adapted to their culture, will afford food for only a given 

 number of oysters. 



FAUNA OF THE OYSTEE BEDS. 



The animal forms which are encountered on the oyster 

 beds and in the surrounding waters are exceedingly nu- 

 merous, and range in size from the most minute monads, 

 Yibriones and Bacteria up to fishes and other types of 

 considerable size. Whether the Sheep's-head Arclio- 

 sargits 'prohatocephalus^ frequents the oyster beds or 

 not I do not positively know, but I strongly suspect that 

 it does. My reason for this belief is that I tind the half 

 digested remains of the common branching, crimson-col- 

 ored sponge MlcTOciona proliferum in their stomachs, 

 together with the crushed shells of mussels {Modiolaria 

 and Mytilus.) These last can be best obtained by the 

 fish from submerged rocks to which they are attached, 

 but the sponge which grows in considerable abundance 

 on the oyster beds would attract these animals, where 

 they might do some damage to young oysters with their 

 powerful cutting and grinding teeth. Other fishes are 

 found on the banks such as the sole, AcTiirus lineatus^ 

 the true toad fish BatracJiits tau; the outer gill openings 

 of the latter were usually surrounded by a phalanx of 

 parasitic crustaceans nearly allied to the genus Caligus^ 

 provided with a pair of discoidal suckers on the forepart 

 of the under side of the body. Puffers (called "toads" 



