189 
As long as the hurdles remained in position they were fre- 
quently examined in order to ascertain the advent of the 
young brood, and from these examinations I am of the opin- 
ion that the first attachment of oysters took place about 
July 17th, as on that day we discovered, with the aid of the 
microscope, oysters on Hurdle Ho. 12, on Chain Shoal, and 
on the 19th in the same way found them on Ho. 7, in the Big 
Annemessex. 
On July 24th they were observable on the hurdles on the 
Great Hock, both in shoal and deep water, though the attach- 
ment probably began about the middle of July. Yet it was 
only evident on the tiles, as our dredging operations did not 
discover any attachment before the 12th of August, when the 
young brood were found in moderate numbers on all the beds 
in both the Sounds. 
The number found in Pocomoke Sound was much smaller 
than in Tangier, and the number on the Upper Pocomoke 
Beds and on the Muddy Marsh Bed was smaller than on the 
lower ones. 
The attachment appears to be proportional to the number 
of oysters, such beds as the Muddy Marsh, for instance, hav- 
ing very few young, but as the bed is badly broken up, this 
may be owing to the absence of proper cultch. The young 
appear to select the cleanest and smoothest shells for attach- 
ment, and we always found that the “boxes,” or those shells 
which had not been separated completely, contained the largest 
number of young brood. 
We also found that the size of the young depended, to a 
great extent, upon the depth of water. Those first detected 
by us were from two mil. to one cent, in length, and as the 
shoal water oysters spawn first, and as we found the young of 
the largest size in shoal water, I infer that the attachment of 
the oyster occurs very near the location of the parent. 
The hurdle in the Big Annemessex was subjected to four 
examinations. 
It was placed in position on July 9th, and on July 19th, 
when the first examination was made, there were a few oysters 
on the tiles, but so small that a microscope was necessary in 
order to recognize them (Record, Yol. I., Form B). 
