OYSTERS. 2271

Cedar point, in Charles county, Maryland, during the period between the
first day of January and the first day of May in any year. The said per-
mit shall be obtained from any oyster inspector, or any officer in charge of
a Virginia or Maryland oyster police boat, for each boat or vessel to be
used in carrying said oysters as aforesaid, and shall state the name and
tonnage (if registered in the custom house) of the boat or vessel, the name
of the owner and the master thereof, and to what waters in Maryland or
Virginia such cargo of oysters is to be carried. Before such permit shall
be granted the owner or master of such boat or vessel shall take and sub-
scribe to an oath before said officer that the said boat or vessel will not be
used for carrying said oysters to any State other than Maryland or Vir-
ginia, or for any other purpose than for planting the same in the waters
of one or the other of the said States, and that he will not sell said
oysters to any other person for the purpose of carrying the same to any
State other than Maryland or Virginia. The oath so taken and subscribed,
together with a memorandum of the permit issued, shall be returned by
said officer to the commander of the State Fishery Force of Maryland, if
said officer be a Maryland official, or to the secretary of the Commission of
Fisheries of Virginia, if said officer be a Virginia official, to be filed by
him in his office. Blank forms for such oath and permit shall be furnished
to the respective oyster inspectors, and the respective captains of the oyster
police boats, by the Comptroller of Maryland and the Auditor of Public
Accounts of Virginia. For administering said oath and issuing said per-
mit, the inspector or officer issuing same shall be entitled to receive from
the applicant a fee of twenty-five cents. The owner or master of any boat
or vessel found carrying or buying such seed oysters without such permit
shall be fined not less than twenty dollars nor more than one hundred dol-
lars. And any owner or master of any boat or vessel violating the pro-
visions of this section by buying or carrying or knowingly selling such seed
oysters to be carried elsewhere, or for any other purpose than to be planted
in the waters of Maryland or Virginia, shall be fined not less than one
hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, and in addition
thereto the boat or vessel so used shall, with its cargo and equipment, be
forfeited to the State wherein such offender is convicted; provided, no per-
mit shall be granted to any person engaged in taking or catching, buying
or carrying seed oysters or having in his possession oysters measuring
less than two and one-half inches from hinge to mouth, who shall have any
scoop, scrape or dredge or any part thereof, on any boat or vessel to be used
in taking, buying or carrying seed oysters, and it shall be the duty of the
officer who issues said permit to first inspect said boat or vessel and satisfy
himself that no such appliance is on said boat or vessel before he issues
any permit; and any person who shall have any scoop, scrape or dredge,
or any part thereof, on any boat or vessel engaged in catching, buying or
carrying seed oysters or oysters measuring less than two and one-half
inches from hinge to mouth, and any owner or master of any boat or vessel

See foot-note to sec. 62.