HERBERT R. O'CONOR, GOVERNOR. 1419

taken from natural rocks, beds and shoals in said river above
a straight line drawn from North Point at the mouth of Upper
Machodoc Creek, in the County of King George, Virginia, to
Lower 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 permit shall be obtained from
any oyster inspector, or any officer in charge of a Virginia
or Maryland oyster police boat, for each boat 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,
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 shall take and subscribe to an oath before
said officer that the said boat will not be used for carrying
said oysters to any state other than Maryland or Virginia,
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 Mary-
land, 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 permit, the inspector or officer issuing same
shall be entitled to receive from the applicant a fee of twenty-
five cents (25). The owner or master of any boat found carry-
ing or buying such seed oysters without such permit shall be
fined not less than Twenty Dollars ($20. 00) nor more than One
Hundred Dollars ($100. 00). Any owner or master of any
boat violating the provisions of this section by buying or carry-
ing or knowingly selling such seed oysters to be carried else-
where, 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 ($100. 00) nor more than One Thousand
Dollars ($1, 000. 00), and in addition thereto the boat so used
shall, with its cargo and equipment, be forfeited to the State
wherein such offender is convicted; provided, however, no
permit 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 three inches from
hinge to mouth, who shall have any scoop, scrape or dredge