1 882.] American Work on Recent Mollusca in 1881. 965 



and stuck into the river bottom (soft mud) where there is about 

 twelve feet of water at low tide. The spat adheres to the bushes 

 and grows finely, twenty-five bushels of oysters (seven bushels 

 marketable and the remainder " seed " oysters) having been taken 

 from one bush which was four inches through the butt and had 

 been set eighteen months. The average yield, however, is about 

 five bushels to the bush. As the bottom is muddy, the spat 

 which is caught by the bushes would otherwise be a complete 

 loss. The oysters are said to be of fine flavor and rather peculiar 

 shape. About fifty acres are devoted to this business. Although 

 the bushes are always under water, a strong opposition to this 

 mode of planting has been developed in the neighborhood which 

 threatens to terminate the trade. The ostensible ground is, that 

 it is liable to produce disease in the vicinity, which would seem 

 to be an unwarranted assumption, and the editor ascribes the 

 attack on the planters to " the determined opposition to oyster 

 culture which has always been noticeable in that section of Con- 

 necticut." Why any one should oppose the cultivation of oysters 

 does not seem clear. 



In New Haven, Conn., in the autumn of 1 881, was reported a 

 singular scarcity of oyster shells for use in planting new beds for 

 the " spat " to settle upon. The value of a bushel of the shells 

 had risen to five and even seven cents a bushel. Formerly sur- 

 „ Plus oyster shells were used in making roads about New Haven 

 and the smoothness, hardness and freedom from dust of the 

 "shell roads " was so well known as to become proverbial. But 

 the scarcity of the shells, unless it proves to be merely temporary, 

 will soon make the " shell road " a thing of the past. 



The franchise for fish and oysters in the Gulf of California is 

 held by Don Guillermo Andrade by a concession from the Mexican 

 authorities. A party has recently gone to investigate the islands 

 covered by his concession, with a view of establishing packing 

 establishments, for putting up turtle flesh and oysters in cans for 

 export. 



The " Market Review for 1881" (San Francisco, Cal.), states that 

 the quantity of abalones ( Haliotis of several species) shipped by 

 sea from California in 1880, was 6372 sacks, valued at $46,179.00 ; 

 and in 1881, 4522 sacks, valued at $18,529.00. This is exclu- 

 sive of the quantity shipped by rail which is probably much 

 greater. Owing to the demand for iridescent buttons now in 



