11— AN INVESTIGATION OF THE COAST WATERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA 
WITH REFERENCE TO OYSTER-CULTURE. 
BY JOHN D. BATTLE. 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
[By Richard Rathbun, Assistant in charge of Scientific Inquiry.] 
During the winter of 1890-91, the Fish Commission steamer Fish HawTc, Lieut. 
Robert Platt, U. S. Navy, commanding, was detailed to investigate the coast waters 
of South Carolina, with the object of determining the position, extent, and character- 
istics of the natural oyster beds, and also of the bottom areas not now producing oys- 
ters, but suitable for their cultivation. Similar surveys of the coasts of North Carolina 
and Georgia had previously been made by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and 
the impetus thereby given to the oyster industry in those States was considered to 
warrant the same attention to the requirements of the intervening district. In arrang- 
ing for this undertaking it was deemed advisable to add several new features to the 
examination, namely, a careful study of the biological characteristics of the region 
with special reference to the feeding of the oyster, chemical analyses of the water, and 
a more detailed inquiry than has been customary respecting its physical condition. 
The hydrographic work, including the delineation of the natural oyster beds, the 
determination of suitable bottoms for oyster-planting, and the specific-gravity obser- 
vations, was placed in charge of Mr. John D. Battle, formerly associated with Lieut. 
Francis Winslow, U. S. Navy, in the oyster survey of North Carolina, and with Ensign 
J. C. Drake, U. S. Navy, in that of Georgia. The services of Dr. Bashford Dean, tutor 
in biology in the College of the City of New York, were secured for the more special 
biological researches respecting the oyster and its food and the chemical and physical 
considerations, subjects to which he had previously given much attention in connec- 
tion with the investigations of the oyster grounds of New York State. The general 
natural history of the waters was attended to by Mr. James E. Benedict, of the U. S. 
National Museum, and Mr. W. C. Kendall, the former, however, remaining with the 
steamer only about two months. The officers of the Fish Hawh participated in all the 
branches of the work, and their hearty cooperation, especially in regard to the hydro- 
graphic survey, was essential to its success. 
