ART. 24.] OYSTERS ANU FISH. 2155

included in the boundaries of said Worcester county, with rakes
and tongs, and not otherwise; but no person licensed as above,
nor any other person, shall take or remove any oysters from the
waters of said bay or its tributaries, on any Sunday, or in the
night at any season, nor during the day from the first day of
May to the first day of September, or any shells from natural
rocks of said bay at any time; .provided, that nothing herein
shall be construed to forbid any person from taking or catching
his own planted oysters at any time, or with any kind of instru-
ments; and any person violating any of the provisions of this
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon indictment
and conviction thereof shall be fined not less than twenty dol-
lars nor more than one hundred dollars for each offence, and shall
stand committed to the jail of Worcester county till the fine and
costs are paid, or both fined as aforesaid and imprisoned in the
jail of Worcester county for not less than sixty days, in the dis-
cretion of the court.

1888, ch. 346.

172. It shall be lawful for any resident citizen of Worcester
county to plant or lay down oysters in any of the waters of the
Synepuxent bay or its tributaries, except upon the natural rocks
in said bay or its tributaries; and any person so planting shall
keep the said oysters so planted, staked with stakes, bushes or
buoys, and four stakes, bushes or buoys shall constitute a suffi-
cient quantity to mark said ground so planted; that is to say, one
at each corner of said ground; and in case of storms or ice taking
up said stakes, bushes or buoys, or a part of them, one stake, bush
or buoy shall be sufficient notice that oysters have been planted
there, until the owner has sufficient time thereafter to re-stake
said oyster grounds; and if any person, through mistake or igno-
rance, should plant upon a natural rock, or part of a rock, it shall
be the duty of the county commissioners of said county, upon
the sworn statement of any informant, to appoint and commission
three disinterested men, on oath, to go on said oyster ground with
the owner and examine and determine the same; and if they shall
find a rock in said oyster ground so staked more than twenty feet
square, in any one place in said ground, they shall value the same
upon oath, and the person so planting shall pay the amount of
said valuation to the county commissioners for the use of said