8 
BULLETIN 740, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
i 
SERIES III. 
Since the amino acids present in oysters had been regarded as 
decomposition products, it was assumed that their amounts would he 
at a minimum in oysters fresh from the beds, and would increase with 
the length of time the oysters were out of the water. As some of the 
experiments indicated that this was not the case, the following series 
of experiments was carried out. 
By means of a portable apparatus carried aboard an oyster boat, 
amino-acid determinations were run upon liquors and meats of oysters 
as they came from the water at Princess Bay, New York. Two 
bushels of the same stock were transported to the laboratory at 
South Norwalk the same night. Determinations were run upon 
representative samples of this lot every day for six days, the oysters 
being shucked in the laboratory immediately before analysis. On the 
last day, analyses were also run upon a lot of shell oysters from the 
same locality, which had been stored in the laboratory in baskets for 
four weeks. The results of this series are given in Table 3. 
Table 3. —Percentage of amino-acid nitrogen present in meats and liquors of shell 
oysters, and its variation with age. 
Nov. 30 
Dec. l 
2 
3 
4 
5 
5 
Date. 
1914. 
Meats. 
Liquors. 
Remarks. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
0.1938 
0.0588 
Perfectly fresh. 
.1970 
.0625 
Oysters immediately after dredging. 
.1976 
. 0598 
.1640 
.0336 
.1626 
.0353 
.1709 
.0280 
.1709 
.0263 
.1737 
.0224 
.1647 
.0258 
.1645 
. 03S0 
.1594 
.0342 
.1651 
.0302 
.1651 
.0300 
.1720 
.0370 
Oysters from same locality stored in laboratory 4 weeks. 
.1728 
.0377 
This series leaves no doubt that the percentage of amino acids in 
perfectly fresh oysters is much greater than has been supposed. 
This value decreases to a minimum in the first day or two that the 
oysters are out of water, and remains practically constant as long as 
the oysters remain in the shell but do not lose shell liquor. Shortly 
after losing the shell liquor from any cause death ensues with 
attendant decomposition. 
As no further work was done on this very interesting point, no 
conclusions can be drawn at this time. This series seems to indicate, 
however, that some reason other than decomposition must be sought 
to explain the presence of amino acids in fresh oysters. 
