280 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
taken at that time there results not only the destruction of the adult but also of the 
progeny which that adult is capable of producing, and it never occurs to the advocates 
of this form of legislation that the same objection applies to the capture of an oyster at 
any other time. If the oyster were more easily captured during the spawning season, 
as are certain species of fishes, or if it were a timid creature fleeing from alarm and 
easily driven away, or if it cared for its young after the manner of the higher animals, 
there would be perhaps some warrant for the present belief in the all-sufficiency of the 
close season as a protective measure. Eut the oyster does none of these things; it 
stays where it first lodges and there passively awaits such' fate as may be in store for 
it, doing nothing of its own volition, either to defer or expedite its capture. 
Bearing these facts in mind, let us examine the effect of the close season upon two 
hypothetical beds, one of which is closed during the period when the oyster is 
spawning, the other when it is not. We will suppose, for the sake of definiteness, that 
each of these beds contains 10,000 bushels of oysters; that spawning takes place only 
during the six months between the 1st of April and the 1st of October; that the 
oystermen have the skill, industry, and purpose to remove every oyster during a 
working period of six months, and finally that the dead shells are culled out and 
returned to the beds. Let us first consider the case of the bed which is closed in the 
usual manner during the spawning season. The oystermen will begin on the 1st of 
October and labor unceasingly until the 1st of April, when, ex hypothesis there will not 
be a single oyster left to spawn and the reproductive capacity of the beds will be zero. 
Compare with this the bed which is closed during the six months when the oyster is 
not spawning. At the beginning of reproductive activity the bed is intact; it contains 
10,000 bushels of oysters, each, we will say, capable of producing its kind. At the 
end of the six months, as in the former case, not an adult oyster is left, but the 
condition of the two beds is not otherwise comparable. In the first place cot an 
oyster has spawned; in the second case, supposing the daily catch to be approximately 
constant, one half of the spawn has been given opportunity for discharge and a 
considerable portion of the spat should have attached itself to the culled shells and 
other material returned to the bed. In the one case, if the bed be isolated, absolute 
extermination has been accomplished; in the other case the bed still contains the 
elements of recuperation. In practice, of course, the extreme conditions mentioned 
never obtain, but the principle is the same whether the oysters be taken in whole or 
in part. 
In practice also, where some oysters always remain on the beds, even after the 
most thorough working economically possible, the close season has a utility not yet 
touched upon. In its early attached stages the oyster is not the hardy, heavily 
armored animal that we see in the market. Its shell is thin and fragile as an eggshell, 
and closely adherent to the foreign body which furnishes its place of attachment. 
Tongs, and especially dredges, however carefully handled, must crush them by multi- 
tudes, and the impact of the oysters against one another as they are thrown into the 
boat costs the lives of many more. A large proportion of the young spat is often 
attached to marketable oysters, and however well-intentioned the oysterman may be 
in his efforts to comply with the culling law, it is quite impossible to detach the spat 
without killing it. When the close season ends immediately upon the cessation of 
spawning a very large proportion of even the earliest set is subject to the perils 
pointed out. If the young oysters could be protected until such times as the shells 
