ART. 72] OYSTER CULTURE. 1597

boundaries of the natural beds, bars and rocks, as established by said
survey, and they shall take true and accurate notes of said survey in
writing, and make an accurate report of said survey, setting forth such
a description of land marks as may be necessary to enable the said
board, or their successors, to find and ascertain the boundary lines of
the said natural oyster beds, bars and rocks, as shown by a delineation
on the maps and charts provided in this sub-title; said report shall be
completed and filed in the office of the board in the city of Annapolis,
within ninety days after the completion of the survey of any county.
Said commissioners shall cause the same to be published in pamphlet
form, and transmit copies of the same to the clerks of the circuit court
for the respective counties, where the charts have been filed or directed
to be filed as hereinafter provided; the said report to be filed by the
clerks of the several counties in a book kept for that purpose. And the
said survey and report, when filed, subject to the right of appeal here-
after provided for in this sub-title, shall be taken in all the courts of
this State as conclusive evidence of the boundaries and limits of all
natural oyster beds, bars and rocks, lying within the waters of the
county wherein such survey and report are filed, and shall be construed
to mean in all of the said courts that there are no natural oyster beds,
bars or rocks lying within the waters of the counties wherein such report
and survey are filed, other than those embraced in the survey authorized
by this sub-title, and that all areas of the Chesapeake bay and its tribu-
taries within the State of Maryland, not shown in the survey to be
natural oyster beds, bars or rocks, shall be construed in all the courts
of the State to be barren bottoms, and open for disposal by the State.
for the purpose of private planting or propagation of oysters thereon,
under the provisions of this sub-title; provided, that the said survey and
report shall not be so construed as to affect in any manner the holdings
by citizens of this State in any lot which may have been appropriated
or taken up under the laws of this State prior to April 2, 1006.

1906, ch. 711, sec. 90.

92. The said board, in defining the natural beds and bars, shall exer-
cise its judgment liberally in favor of the natural beds and bars, and
allow a reasonable margin of the barren bottoms, rather than encroach
on a natural bed or bar. The natural beds or bars shall be bounded by
straight lines, even though some portions of barren bottoms may thus
be necessarily included within such lines.

1906, ch. 711, sec. 91.

93. If residents of any county, exceeding twenty-four in number,
shall, within four months after the filing of said survey and report in
such county, file in the circuit court for said county a petition, in writ-
ing, attested by the oath of some one or more of the petitioners, alleging
that five or more adjacent acres of oyster beds bars or rocks, in such
county, have been omitted from such survey, or that five or more acres
of barren bottoms have been included in such survey, and designating