170 
The proportions have been calculated in a manner similar 
to that described in my previous report, and are, as was pointed 
out in that report, only of value as forming a standard for 
comparison. It must be borne in mind, however, in making 
such comparison, that the hardness of the unworked beds and 
the closeness of the growth of the oysters would prevent as 
many being taken by the dredge as on the softer and more 
open beds in the Sounds. 
By referring to the table, it will be seen that the propor- 
tion calculated for each locality is very nearly the same as 
that arrived at by combining all the observations, and that 
this proportion is about 0.4 to the square yard. 
Accepting that as the standard, the proportion to the square 
yard upon a bed which has been dredged for some time 
should certainly not fall below 0.4, and considering the differ- 
ent characters of the bottom, the proportion, as shown by the 
dredge upon an old bed, should be much larger, unless the 
bed has been overworked. 
The following table shows the number of oysters of each 
class examined, and also the number of bushels brought up 
and the percentage of shells and debris to the whole amount. 
As will be seen by the table, the number of the fourth class 
of this year’s growth is very large, showing that however bad 
the season may have been inside the Sounds it has not influ- 
enced the reproduction in the Bay. 
