1882.] American Work on Recent Mdlusca in 188 1. 963 



the business of oyster cultivation as practiced in Connecticut ; 

 third, the report of J. P. Bogart, Esq., engineer of the board, in 

 relation to surveys made, accompanied by a map of the triangula- 

 tion executed, and a general map of the State oyster grounds ; 

 and lastly, an appendix containing the forms of deeds used, and 

 a compend of the laws of Connecticut relating to shell-fish and 

 fisheries. It is creditable to the State of Connecticut that the 

 importance of the subject has received legal recognition, and to 

 the commissioners, Messrs. R. G. Pike, W. M. Hudson, and Geo. 

 N. Woodruff, that so much has been accomplished with so little 

 expense. This has doubtless been largely due to the intelligence 

 and efficiency of the engineer of the board as well as to the exer- 

 tions of the members of the commission themselves. Should 

 Maryland and Virginia take similar action in the waters of the 

 Chesapeake, and execute the laws already on the statute book, 

 the inevitable depopulation of the oyster grounds now rapidly ap- 

 proaching, and which will deprive over forty thousand people of 

 their means of livelihood, might be long postponed if not entirely 

 prevented. The crass ignorance of those most interested, how- 

 ever, and its effect on State politics, are such that little in the way 

 of rational legislation is to be hoped for, until after the business in 

 the Chesapeake has practically destroyed itself. 



General information about the oyster and clam trade can be 

 found in the weekly issues of Hopson's Sea World, etc., for the 

 year 1881. 



An important article on " Chesapeake oysters" and the oyster 

 trade of that region generally, can be found in the New York 

 Herald for Oct. nth, 1881, and another on " Oysters in season," 

 in the issue of Aug. 26th, 1881. The business began in Balti- 

 more in 1834, but was of little consequence until 1836, when a 

 packing-house, dealing at first chiefly in raw oysters was estab- 

 lished by C. S. Maltby. On both shores of the Chesapeake col- 

 lectively, there is capital to the amount of more than seven and a 

 half millions of dollars invested— over seventeen million bushels 

 of oysters were handled— over forty thousand people and nearly 

 ten thousand vessels and boats were employed in the business, 

 while the wages earned are about seven millions of dollars. This 

 article is largely indebted to the Census Report on the oyster 

 industry for its facts, but presents them in a compact and handy 



