46 



would be readily freed. These frames I would then have 

 arranged in lines or series with wooden floats, moored 

 close to an oyster bank, in order that the floating embryos 

 from these banks might the more readily And places on 

 the surfaces of the frames to flx themselves. 



Floating shingles tliinly coated with cement as a pro- 

 tection against the ship-worm, fastened together with 

 wire so as to form large squares, might also be used in 

 the same situations with good results. The ship-worm 

 might be allowed to destroy the shingles as they would 

 still answer the purpose long enough to allow the "spat" 

 to acquire a considerable size, and afterwards be easily 

 broken up when it became desirable to nse the ''spat" 

 in the "nurseries'' or as "plants." But such a practice 

 if long continued might prove disadvantageous, inasmuch 

 as the cultivation of the ship-worm Avould also be effect- 

 ed, a business not at all profltable where other submerged 

 wooden structures were in use which it was desirable to 

 protect from this destructive creature. 



The only ad-vantas:es to be secured bv the use of float- 

 ing collectors would be in providing a means for floating 

 embryos to fix themselves. Whether the free swimming 

 embryo oysters will really affix themselves more freely 

 to a floating apparatus can of course only be determined 

 by experiment. At times it seemed to me that the col- 

 lectors which had been placed nearest the surface had 

 caught the most fry, in other cases this seemed not to be 

 the case. There remains enough evidence however to 

 make it d.esirable that this x^lan should be thoroughly 

 tested. 



THE BOX-COLLECTOK. 



The box-collector in use in France is a rough box 

 three feet wide, six long and two and a half deep ; it is 

 provided inside with a tier of three trays at each end 

 nearly three feet square ; upon these trays are placed 

 dead oyster shells and a few live, spawning oysters. 

 This was essentially the form used by me in my experi- 



