358 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. | [Vor. XXXIV. 
determining the character of zodlogical study in America is 
well known. A list of its members will be found to include 
many of the leaders in this branch of science in the several 
parts of the country, and the number of memoirs and papers 
based on observations made during its sessions is very large. 
During the last few years there have been in Beaufort, from 
time to time, parties of naturalists from Columbia (under Pro- 
fessor E. B. Wilson) and other universities, as well as from the 
Johns Hopkins. The U. S. Fish Commission has for years 
been familiar with the fact that Beaufort presented many 
opportunities for the scientific study of economic problems. 
The large number of edible fish and Crustacea, the extensive 
beds of clams and oysters, make the region one of commercial 
importance. At Professor Brooks’s laboratory many contribu- 
tions to the life histories of edible forms (shrimps, crabs, fish, 
oyster) were made. As a continuation, along economic lines, 
of Professor Brooks’s discoveries concerning the development 
of the American oyster, Lieutenant Winslow’s experiments on 
the artificial propagation of oysters may be mentioned.  Pro- 
fessor Brooks, Lieutenant Winslow, Professor H. L. Osborn 
have all pointed out what an abundant “set” of spat may be 
had, and how rapidly the spat grows. An extensive survey of 
the oyster grounds of North Carolina was carried out some 
years ago, under the direction of Lieutenant Winslow ;! and the 
U. S. Fish Commission, conjointly with the director of the 
Geological and Natural History Survey of North Carolina, 
Professor J. A. Holmes, has had in progress since last Sep- 
tember a reéxamination of a part of the ground, with especial 
reference to the present condition of planted beds. As an 
outcome of this work we may expect to have, in the near 
neighborhood of Beaufort, a carefully planned and conducted 
experimental oyster farm, on which a continuous series of obser- 
vations may be carried out for some years, with the sure 
expectation that improvements in oyster culture will result. 
! Winslow, Lieutenant Francis. Report on the Waters of North Carolina, with 
reference to their possibilities for oyster culture, State Printer. Raleigh, 1886 ; 
Report on the Sounds and Estuaries of North Carolina, with reference to oyster 
culture, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Bulletin No. ro, 1889. 
