336 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
On March 14 the density here was found to be 1.0018 for surface and 1.0065 for 
bottom. On December 5 it was found to be 1.0152 and 1.0173, respectively, for top 
and bottom. 
In March the temperature of water was found to be 20° on top and 18° on the 
bottom; in December 17.5° for top and bottom. 
The condition of this reef was good; the oysters were of good size, well flavored, 
and appeared to be in fair marketable condition. No enemies noted here. 
Locality of Cedar Point . — A fair-sized oyster reef lies just northeast of Cedar 
Point, about half a mile from shore and extending toward Birmingham Reef, with 
which it may be connected, as the intervening patches of oysters shown on the chart 
seem to indicate. Its area is 139 acres, 87 of which are rank and 52 are scattering. 
The depth of water ranges from 24 to 9 feet, with an average of about 51- feet. 
The character of the bottom, condition of reef, quality of oysters, etc,, are the same 
as for Birmingham Reef. 
The mean of four density observations taken in March gives 1.0005 for top and 
bottom. The observed temperature was 15.5° to 16°. No density observation at this 
particular spot was taken in December. 
Cedar Point Beef . — A reef of scattering oysters lies east some 300 yards off Cedar 
Point. It covers an area of about 45 acres. The depth ranges from 4J to 74 feet. 
The character of the bottom, condition of reef, and quality of oysters are the same 
as in the preceding reef, of which it may be considered a part. The reef was found 
to be overworked, its situation near the shore and largely in shoal water making it 
convenient for oystering. 
Cedar Point to Pass Drury . — In the southwestern part of Mobile Bay, extending 
from Cedar Point to Pass Drury, a distance of over 4 miles, is found an extensive 
oyster reef, or rather a series of reefs which are practically connected. They begin 
about a third of a mile south of Cedar Point and extend from the shoals (which are 
occasionally bare at low water and which lie just north of Grant Pass) across the 
northeast eud of Grant Pass and Pass aux Herons; thence in a southeasterly direction 
and parallel to the northern shore of Little Dauphin Island as far as Pass Drui'y. 
The width of the reef varies from about a third to half a mile and contains 813 acres 
301 of which are rank and 512 are scattering. The depth ranges from 21 to 14 feet. 
The bottom is hard and shelly, with occasional patches of hard mud. Toward 
the eastward the reef becomes somewhat sandy, which has given the name of sand 
oysters to those taken from that locality. 
A density observation taken in March in Pass aux Herons gave 1.0005 for surface 
and 1.0029 for bottom. A few days later one taken abreast of Pass Drury gave for 
surface 1.0056 and for bottom 1.0074. On the following 1st of December observations 
taken in the same localities made the surface density in Pass aux Herons 1.0173, the 
bottom being 1.0174. Near the southeastern end of Little Dauphin Island the surface 
was 1.0189 and the bottom 1.0227. 
From March 8 to 15 the temperature of the water varied from 15.5° to 20.5°. On 
December 1 it was 17° in the pass and 18° in the bay. 
The condition of the reef is good, though the portion lying in the vicinity of Grant 
Pass is somewhat depleted, probably due to excessive oystering. We were told that 
a great many of the oysters on this end of the reef had been killed by a storm in the 
fall of 1893. We found numbers of shells which had apparently been killed only 
recently. On the eastern portion of the reef the oysters were growing very rank 
