OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 43 
daily catch of about 30 bushels per man. The average depth of 
water is about 5 to 7 feet at low tide. 
The scattering growth is found in two places, one an isolated rock 
of small size and the other at the extremity of a larger bed where 
the productive bottom runs off to deeper water. There is not much 
difference in the density of the growth on the two places, and it is 
estimated that on the two a tonger could take an average of about 
10 bushels of oysters per day. 
The very scattering bottom lies in two small patches at opposite ends 
*of the longest bed of the group, and the growth is so sparse as barely 
to remove the areas from the category of depleted bottom. The 
depleted areas are three in number, one in the deeper water at the 
tip of a rock and the others on the two connecting ridges mentioned 
earlier in this description. About the same numerical proportion 
exists between the culls and spat as on the preceding bed, and at 
one place on the dense area there is a good growth of marketable 
oysters averaging between 400 and 450 per bushel. There is a fair 
or good deposit of shells throughout the dense and scattering areas 
and on the apical area of very scattering growth, but elsewhere the 
rocks are deficient in this respect. 
Details op Examination of Dry Shoals Rocks. 
Station 
num- 
Date of ex- 
amination. 
Mean 
depth 
of wa- 
ter. 
Character of growth. 
Oysters caught per 
square yard. 
Estimated 
quantity 
oysters per 
acre. 
ber. 
Spat. 
Culls. 
Counts. 
340 
Aug. 25,1909 
Feet. 
7.0 
Dense 
16.4 
26.4 
0.0 
Bushels. 
218 
341 
do 
7.0 
do 
11.7 
30.0 
4.2 
258 
342 
do 
5.0 
do 
21.9 
38.5 
2.3 
343 
347 
do 
11.0 
do 
5.1 
20.9 
2.0 
154 
348 
do 
10.0 
do 
10.6 
36.6 
.6 
247 
349 
do 
5.0 
do 
20.3 
57.7 
.0 
398 
351 
do 
5.5 
do 
13.3 
14.0 
1.3 
153 
352 
do 
5.5 
do 
9.7 
15.3 
.3 
130 
438 
Aug. 31,1909 
7.0 
do 
15.7 
21.3 
.7 
195 
439 
do 
8.0 
do 
11.1 
43.0 
12.3 
408 
440 
do 
6.0 
do. 
15.4 
23.6 
.4 
203 
343 
Aug. 25,1909 
14.0 
Scattering 
3.1 
11.4 
4.0 
117 
442 
Aug. 31,1909 
12.0 
do 
5.8 
19.3 
.3 
131 
337 
Aug. 25,1909 
11.0 
Very scattering 
.8 
2.5 
2.9 
48 
344 
do 
17.0 
do 
6.1 
11.2 
3.1 
121 
437 
Aug. 31,1909 
14.0 
Depleted 
.0 
1.8 
.9 
19 
441 
do 
9.0 
do 
.0 
1.4 
1.4 
22 
POINT OF SHOALS ROCK. 
This name is here given to a large area of varying productiveness 
lying between the preceding, Long Shoal and Point of Shoals Light- 
house, but it is possible that the name as used by the oystermen may 
not strictly accord with this usage. Scattered over the area are a 
number of small shoals ebbing nearly or quite bare, but the average 
depth is in general between 6 and 8 feet. Excepting at its northern 
edge, where an imaginary line separates it from Long Shoal Rock, 
