SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 135 



of the 'Oyster Association,' who should be compelled by 

 the regulations to have his foreign Oysters as carefully 

 inspected and certified as those from his home layings. 

 A large proportion of the imported Oysters are, 

 however, deposited in our waters for such a period 

 before going to market that the fact of their having 

 originally come from abroad may be ignored. If this 

 period of quarantine were imposed upon all foreign 

 Oysters a great part of the difficulty as to inspection 

 and certification would be removed. 



" (c) The grounds from which Mussels, Cockles, 

 Periwinkles are gathered should be periodically 

 examined by scientific inspectors in the same manner 

 as the Oyster beds. The duty of providing for this 

 inspection might well, we suggest, be assumed by the 

 various Sea-Fisheries Committees around the coast." 



Note on Occurrence of Iron and Copper in Oysters.* 

 By Charles A. Kohn, B.Sc, Ph.D. 



' The investigations of Professors Herdman and Boyce 

 on the life conditions of Oysters, which have been in 

 progress since 1895, have pointed to the desirability of 

 ascertaining the quantities of iron and of copper they may 

 contain under either normal or abnormal conditions. 



' Two points of interest have arisen in this connection. 

 In the first place the relation of iron to the greenness of 

 the healthy French Oyster (Huitre de Marennes) ; and 

 secondly, the extent to which copper is responsible for the 

 pale green colour of American and other Oysters, a 

 diseased condition accompanied by a leucocytosis dis- 

 covered and especially studied by Herdman and Boyce. 

 The presence of minute quantities of copper and of iron 



* Quote! h\>:n Kspdrt of Oyster Committee to Brit. Assoc, 1898. 



