OYSTERS. 411

shall be painted red instead of black] and the numbers shall be delivered
by the comptroller to the clerks of the courts as they may be ordered.

Patuxent—Potomac—Choptank.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 57. 1912, sec. 55. 1904, sec. 54. 1904, ch. 522, sec. 1.

1927, ch. 463, sec. 57.

57. It shall be unlawful after April 8, 1904, for any person or persons
to take or catch oysters in any manner whatever in any of the waters of the
Patuxent River and its tributaries of St. Mary's, Charles and Calvert
counties or in the tributaries of the Potomac river lying in St. Mary's and
Charles counties between the first day of April and the first day of October
in each year, or in the waters of Dorchester county or the Choptank river
in said county, between the fifteenth day of April and the fifteenth day of
September in each year; provided, however, that nothing in this Section
shall be so construed as to prevent any person or persons from removing
or transplanting oysters on private beds or taking oysters from private beds
for private use during the closed season, but not for sale. ¹

Potomac.

62-70. Repealed by ch. 126 of the Acts of 1927.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 72. 1912, sec. 68B. 1912, ch. 4, sec. 2. 1927, ch. 476, sec. 72.

72. It shall not be lawful for any citizen of Maryland or of Virginia
to take or catch oysters with a scoop, scrape, dredge, or any such instrument
in the waters of the Potomac River between the fifteenth day of March and
the first day of November of each year; it shall not be lawful for any citi-
zen of either state to take oysters with tongs from the waters of the Potomac
River between the fifteenth day of April and the fifteenth day of Septem-
ber of each year, except as hereinafter provided in Section 74; it shall not
be lawful for any person to have in possession any oysters taken from the
waters of the Potomac River between the twentieth day of April and
the fifteenth day of September of each year. Every person found guilty
of violating any of the provisions of this Section shall be fined not less than
fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars for each offense, and the
vessel, together with its equipment and cargo, used in violating any such
provisions, shall be forfeited to the State.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 73. 1912, sec. 680. 1912, ch. 4, sec. 3. 1927, ch. 476, sec. 73.

73. All oysters taken from any natural rocks, beds or shoals within the
Potomac River shall be culled on their natural rocks, beds or shoals as
taken, and oysters whose shells measure less than three inches in length,
measuring from hinge to mouth, whether attached to a marketable oyster
or not, and all shells shall be included in said culling and placed on said
rocks, beds or shoals; provided, that oysters once passed from the culler

¹ Sec. 2 of ch. 463 of the acts of 1927 repealed all laws inconsistent therewith to
extent of inconsistency.