2 
ment, and then to complete the paper in a second part, de- 
voted to a minute description of the figures, a discussion of 
the theoretical and comparative bearings of my observations 
and a notice of the observations and views of others. 
The place which was selected was excellently fitted for the 
work. The town of Crisfield, Md., is situated at the junction 
of Tangier and Pokomoke Sounds, two large and wide but 
shallow sheets of water, whose muddy bottoms abound in oys- 
ters of the best quality. The town is one of the most im- 
portant centres of the oyster-packing industry, and is built in 
the water upon the shells of the oysters, which have been 
shipped to all parts of the country for consumption. As fast 
as the oysters are opened the shells are used to build up new 
land, and with them a large peninsula has been formed, 
stretching out for more than half a mile from the low marshy 
shore towards the oyster beds, and furnishing room for wide 
streets, a railroad and a steamboat landing, in addition to the 
large packing houses and the shops and dwellings for a popu- 
lation of several thousand people. A single view of the long, 
white, solid streets and docks of this singular town would 
convey a much more vivid idea of the oyster-packing industry 
than any number of tables of statistics. 
I found everybody greatly interested in all that relates to 
the oyster, and ready to give me every help in my work, 
but I am especially indebted to Dr. H. H. Gunby, Mr. T. S. 
Hodson and Mr. J. J. Lawson for many kindly favors, which 
not only enabled me to work to the greatest advantage, but 
also rendered my stay among them very pleasant. 
BREEDING HABITS OF THE AMERICAN OYSTER. 
Our knowledge of the development of the oyster is derived 
from the fragmentary observations of various German, French, 
English and Russian embryologists, whose work will be no- 
ticed at length further on. While the subject has received 
the attention of a number of observers, no one has been able 
to get anything like a complete series of the early stages of 
development, and I approached my work without hope of ac- 
