47 



men ts in St. Jerome's Creek. Unfortunately, however, 

 my experience was very adverse with this apparatus, for 

 the reason that the sediment in the water, being carried 

 throngh the ox)enings in the sides of the box, was depos- 

 ited on the shells and trays, until, in a few weeks, it had 

 attained a depth in some places of two or three inches. 

 Upon making an examination of the box to see if any 

 "spat" had attached itself to the old oysters, the dead 

 shells or the boards, I found the search useless. The 

 mnd seemed to have completely coA^ered all the places 

 which should have afforded points of attachment for 

 young oysters. The live adult oysters however were 

 found to l)e in magnihcent condition in the latter part of 

 September, for every availa]>le square inch of vertical 

 board surface, or of such shells as remained clean, was 

 covered with a forest of minute organisms, such as bry- 

 ozoa, infusoria and diatoms, so that the cause of the good 

 condition of the adults was very apparent. The proba- 

 bility is though, that had the pond been provided with 

 a gate to stop the ebb and flow of the tide, that the sedi- 

 ment w(mld have subsided to the bottom, nzid not have 

 accumulated in the box and over its contents. Under 

 better conditions the performance of this aj^paratus 

 would no doubt have been admirable. 



The use of straw-mat collectors in the same place was 

 attended with the same difficulties as in using the box. 

 The mats, which were made of small bunches of straw 

 held together with a warp of galvanized wire j^laced 

 every six inches apart, were so loaded with deposits of 

 mud as to entirely prevent young oysters from attaching 

 themselves. 



MUD. 



The origin of the black ooze at the bottom of our ex- 

 perimental pond can be traced directly to the sediment 

 held in suspension in the water which slowly ebbs and 

 flows in and out of tlie enclosure, carrying with it in its 

 going and coming a gi'eat deal of light oi'ganic and inor- 



