INTRODUCTION. 
PUBLICATIONS. 
This Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners is 
intended to embrace an account of the work of the Commis- 
sion during the fiscal year ending September 30, 1908, and 
the part of the following fiseal year to December 31, 1908. 
It contains descriptions of the methods and results of the 
survey and examinations of the oyster grounds of Wicomico, 
Worcester, Calvert, Charles, and St. Marys counties, and 
the survey of lots leased for oyster culture; statements re- 
garding the opening of the barren bottoms of Somerset and 
Wicomico counties for lease and the acts of the Commission 
intended to promote leasing of barren bottoms for oyster 
culture; lists of the names of oyster planters who have leased 
lots from the State; a statement of all receipts and disburse- 
ments by the Commission during the fiscal year ending Sep- 
tember 30, 1908, and recommendations for such changes in 
the Haman Oyster Culture Law as the Shell Fish Commis- 
sion believes to be essential to the success of oyster culture. 
During the year Captain C. C. Yates, for the U. S. Coast 
and. Geodetic Survey, prepared and issued two publications,* 
each consisting of a set of charts and a report. 
The first was filed in the office of the Commission at An- 
napolis and with the Clerk of the Cireuit Court of Somerset 
County, July 1, 1908, and contains all information necessary 
to make a permanent record of the work of the Commission 
and the Federal Government in Somerset County for all 
future requirements of the courts. The charts, six in num- 
ber, show all legal boundaries of oyster bars, crabbing bot- 
toms and clam beds within the adopted boundaries of the 
waters opened for leasing with Somerset County, and the 
location of all landmarks used as a foundation for the 
delineation of these various boundaries. The report gives 
technical and legal descriptions of all oyster bar and other 
oil and descriptions of all landmarks shown on the 
charts. 
1 These publications may be secured by applying to the Superintendent of the 
Coast and Geodetic Survey at Washington, D. C. 
