OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 31 



A detailed examination showed an average of but very few oysters 

 per square yard. It is understood that there are planted oysters in 

 this vicinity, and it is not improbable that these are they, though there 

 are no -takes or other marks which would clearly indicate that these 

 are private beds. 



MIDDLE LUMP. 



Middle lump is a dense bed lying in the middle of the bay oppo- 

 site North Base signal. It has a length of about 400 yards and a 

 width of about 175 yards, with an area of about 12 acres. The bed 

 i^ an old one, with a great depth of shells, rising to within about 2 

 feet of the surface of the water from a surrounding depth on the 

 soft mud of 4 to 4^ feet. 



The clusters are generally of medium size, but composed of numer- 

 ous closely crowded individuals averaging from 3 to 3J inches in 

 length, with a somewhat greater number of smaller oysters. Sec- 

 tions examined showed a density of 163 of the larger and 210 of the 

 smaller individuals per square yard. The clusters were so densely 

 crowded that tonging was extremely difficult. The individual oysters 

 are thin-shelled, sharp-edged, and more or less elongate and irregu- 

 lar. The flavor is inferior. Some of the clusters bear considerable 

 numbers of mussels, but they have not yet become the menace found 

 in the upper bay. So far as the actual production of individuals is 

 concerned, this is the densest bed in the entire bay, but the stock is 

 small and therefore less in actual bulk than on several other beds. 



Middle Lump has apparently not been worked for some years, if 

 ever. 



BOGGY LUMP. 



This is a small but important bed from which many good oysters 

 have been derived in former years. It is about 250 yards long and 

 100 yards wide, with an area of approximately 5 acres. The bed is 

 uniformly dense and compact, rising rather abruptly from soft mud 

 in 4 feet of water until its crest is covered with slightly less than a 

 foot at the low -water plane to which soundings are referred in this 

 report. The shoal water on its crest and the mass of shells, 3 feet 

 or more in thickness, upon which the living oysters lie show plainly 

 that this is an old bed. 



Reports state that remarkably large quantities of oysters have 

 been marketed from Boggy Lump in years past, and the detailed 

 examination made by the survey fully substantiates the statements. 

 An average per square yard of 182 oysters over 3 inches long and 

 81 below that length was found, and the catch was the cleanest and 

 best made anywhere in the upper waters of the bay. The oysters 

 have a fine shape and grow in good clusters of 4 or 5 marketable 

 individuals each. The adults average about 4J inches long, are 

 16354—07 m 3 



