134 
There are, then, two similar facts noticed in both Sounds 
with regard to the presence and absence of the young and 
“young growth;” the former have been found in deep wa- 
ter and on hard bottoms, the latter in shoal water, on or 
near soft bottoms. The character of the bottom can hard- 
ly be of much importance in this case, for though a hard 
clean bottom is necessary for a successful attachment of 
the “ spat,” yet the bottoms on the northern part of the 
Sounds must be sufficiently so to obtain a large quantity, 
as is shown by the large number of young growth on 
those beds and that the absence of the young is not due 
entirely to that cause is shown by their scarcity on the Chain 
Shoal and Drumming Shoal beds in Tangier and Shell and 
Muddy Marsh beds in Pocomoke Sound, where the bottom is 
hard and moderately clean. Pemaining then as the only 
probable cause known to us is the difference of depth of 
water. It will be found upon reviewing the remarks and rec- 
ord, that almost invariably the young are found in deep water 
and the young growth in shoal. It was the opinion of the 
oystermen that the oysters in the Sounds increased from one 
to three inches in length in the first year of their existence. 
The class termed “young growth” by us were from three- 
fourths of an inch to one and a half inches long ; and sup- 
posing the oystermen to be correct in their estimation of in- 
crease in size, the class termed “ young growth” would then 
be of the same season’s brood.* 
The investigation of the beds was carried on in September, 
and in Tangier Sound ; the principal amount of information 
was collected during the latter part of that month and the first 
part of October. If, then, the oysters on the shoal water beds 
had spawned in the early part of June, they would have had 
about four months growth when our observations were made. 
In searching for spawn in the oysters during the latter part of 
August and first part of September, Mr. Pice was unable to 
discover any except in those from deep water, and that fact, 
together with the inference drawn from the preceding para- 
graphs, leads me to believe the oystermen correct in stating 
Spawned much earlier than those termed “young,’ 
