690 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



I desire, therefore, to call public attention to the subject of 

 restocking the lagoons by fish culture, as well as to the 

 necessity of restocking our rivers. 



Oyster-culture in the Mediterranean does not seem to 

 me to promise so brilliant a future as on the Atlantic coast, 

 although some stations seem to offer all the conditions 

 recognized as indispensable to success. 



The lagoons of Ferrare, Comacchio, and Venice may 

 be compared to Leucate, Thau, and those of Aigues- 

 Mortes. The inhabitants of the shore, however, have 

 derived great benefit from these salt lakes, and in this no 

 parallel can be drawn between the two. Whilst on the 

 French side nothing but solitude and neglect * is seen, the 

 Italians have not allowed to be lost the teachings in the 

 art of cultivating the sea which were transmitted to them 

 by the ancients. If, in the south, they practise oyster 

 culture as in the last days of the Roman republic, along 

 the Adriatic and in the Sardinia s they have applied them- 

 selves to the breeding and preservation of sea fish. 



At Comacchio fish culture has from time immemorial 

 furnished material for a large export trade, and fisheries 

 are numerous in all the lagoons of the coast. 



This is the example to be followed a profitable busi- 

 ness, in which one can engage without doubt of success. 

 The soil, the climate, the water being the same in the Gulf 

 of Venice as in the Gulf of Lyons, the processes need not 

 be sought for anew. The Italians succeeded with them : 



* The average annual yield of the fisheries in Lake Thau amounts 

 to 300,000 francs (60,000 dois). This is an indication of a certain acti- 

 vity. (Lentheric, Villes mortes du Golfe de Lyon.) 



