1088 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



eggs, when they had been impregnated, they gradually 

 changed into a state of larvae, and these larvae, which were 

 afterwards set free in the sea water, formed what was 

 called the spat of the oyster. The spat was nothing but 

 the impregnated eggs, having become larvae, swimming 

 about freely a certain time, and afterwards fixing on to 

 some object where they could grow into oysters. The age 

 had been carefully investigated at which oysters produced 

 eggs out of which spat could be evolved, and now it was 

 quite clear that in the Scheldt only oysters of three or four 

 years old contained such eggs. There was no instance of 

 any oyster larvae produced at an earlier age. The investi- 

 gations of Dr. Hoek on this subject were published, and 

 to them he would refer Mr. Browning. As to the question 

 of certain oyster beds in Arcachon, as stated by Captain 

 Austin, not having a vestige of spat, although there 

 were a large number of mature oysters, he quite agreed 

 with the possibility. The great question was, where 

 had the spat that had been produced on this oyster 

 bed gone to ? As he had already stated, they did not 

 know how long spat remained suspended, and it was 

 generally believed that this might be three or four days, 

 and thus the spat which had been set free out of the 

 shells of the ripe oysters forming a given bed, might 

 have been carried away by currents miles from the native 

 place, and deposited elsewhere, or drifted away to sea 

 without even growing to mature oysters. Next came the 

 important point with respect to the " fall " of spat on 

 the beds which were leased for the purpose. There was 

 in all probability no region so favourable as the inland bay 

 of the oyster Scheldt of which he had spoken. On many 

 of the English beds situated on the coast, the moment the 

 spat had been produced it might easily be carried away 



