ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTURE. I 1 29 



would stand near the shore, possess its own jetty and 

 small harbour, with steam-launch for dredging and traw- 

 ling, and other boats. Adjacent to it would be marine 

 ponds for experiments in the culture of oysters, mussels, 

 and whelks, and of various fish. The director of the 

 laboratory and his assistant would be provided with houses 

 forming part of the laboratory building. The basement of 

 the laboratory would consist of large well-paved rooms fitted 

 with tanks, and an apparatus for the circulation of sea-water. 

 Here animals would be kept for observation, and the pro- 

 duce of a day's dredging or trawling would here be sifted 



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and sorted. On the ground-floor and first-floor would be 

 spacious rooms, with large windows giving both north and 

 south lights, and fitted with tables suited to the require- 

 ments of the microscopist. Small aquariums and pumping 

 apparatus would also be provided in these rooms. Accom- 

 modation for ten workers, in addition to the director and 

 his assistant, would thus be provided. In another room a 

 complete zoological and piscicultural library would be esta- 

 blished, and the means for writing and making drawings 

 would be provided. 



The naturalists permanently and temporarily working 

 here would in the course of a few years provide us with 

 much-needed knowledge. For instance, some would study 

 the reproduction of the sole, and devise means for increas- 

 ing its numbers in the market ; others would ascertain how 

 best to deal with oysters ; others would find out the whole 

 history of the mussel. Bit by bit a new and thorough 



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knowledge of fishery-animals would be built up, and come 

 into use as the basis of new legislative enactments, and of 

 new methods of capture and culture. 



Such an institution would no doubt be costly. A 

 valuable laboratory of the kind might be set going and 



