I. _Protective Laws._--The history of the oyster laws of Massachusetts is a history of the industry itself. The rise and decline of the fishery are distinctly traceable in the development of the legal machinery which regulates it. From the time of the Pilgrims the oyster beds of the coast had been regarded as inexhaustible mines. The fallacy of this view gradually became apparent, as these beds began to be depleted through overfishing. As early as 1796 a general law, entitled "An act to prevent the destruction of oysters and other shellfish," was passed by the Legislature. Prior to 1869 the town of Harwich adopted this old law. Shortly after, Swansea followed suit, and restricted the exploitation of her native oyster beds in the Lee and Cole rivers. In 1870 Wellfleet inaugurated an innovation, in the nature of a permit to take oysters, which was required of all citizens of the town. The idea of this permit was to regulate the fishery, centralize control in the hands of the selectmen and add to the income of the town. In 1873 Sandwich passed a law enforcing a close season on all her native beds, to last for a period of one year. In 1875 Brewster followed the lead of Wellfleet, in demanding permits of all outsiders and also from all citizens taking more than 3 bushels at any one time, although an unlimited amount might be taken for food. The aim of all this legislation was not to develop the industry directly, but indirectly by preserving and fostering the native beds. This theory, while excellent in motive, did not work out well, as the native beds could not by any possible protection be brought to produce an annual yield at all adequate to the growing demands of the market. The utilization of purely natural resources proving unequal to the demands of the occasion, the creation of other resources became necessary, and an entirely new epoch in the history of the oyster fishery was inaugurated. This epoch marked the beginning of the production of oysters by artificial means, and the establishment of this new industry and the perplexing complications which grew out of it have been the source of legislative strife for many years.