OYSTER CULTURE IN ITALY. 671 



excavation situated below the convent of St. Antoine, and 

 which is obstructed during long periods of time, surges 

 sometimes a boiling sulphurous spring, which flows down 

 into the Little Sea. As soon as this phenomenon manifests 

 itself, consternation spreads among this population of ten 

 thousand fishermen, who live exclusively upon the products 

 of the sea. The Little Sea then takes a reddish tint ; the 

 water of the springs, lighter than that of the sea, is rapidly 

 transported by the currents. The fish are able to flee from 

 this pest, but the oyster, the mussel, and shell-fish in 

 general are quickly poisoned. When the water is in this 

 state the fishermen call it "the sea of blood." This 

 fortunately happens only at rare intervals; but, nevertheless, 

 within the past twelve years it has taken place twice ; 

 formerly it had become almost a legend, for it had not 

 "occurred within the memory of man. (3) 



TOULON. 



The roadstead of Toulon presents, on first examination, 

 most favourable natural conditions for the cultivation of 



(b) The work lately undertaken in Norway by Lieutenant-General 

 Wergeland, formerly Minister of War, enables us to further extend the 

 comparative study of the methods of oyster-culture in the different seas. 



There are remarkable differences between the processes in use in 

 the Mediterranean and in the ocean, but these differences can only be 

 the more sensibly realized if we go as far as the North Sea. Hitherto, 

 Vivier-sur-Mer, in the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, seemed to be the 

 most northern limit where oyster-culture assumed all its phases, for, if 

 at certain more northern points on the Norman coasts, and at a few 

 stations on the southern and eastern coasts of England, young oysters 

 have been taken by the aid of scientific appliances, the means of 

 preserving the spawn are still to be discovered, and these experiments 

 have not been practically applied. 



In connection with the above see the Chapter on " Oyster-Culture 

 in Norway." 



