6 72 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



oysters, mussels, and edible shell-fish in general. All the 

 edible species common to the Mediterranean occur there, 

 and it produced, moreover, in the early part of the present 

 century, very fine oysters. Gradually, however, the exhaus- 

 tion of the natural beds there began to be felt, as was the 

 case with most of the banks along our coasts, and the 

 deposits which had been of considerable importance were 

 speedily exhausted. The oysters now taken at Toulon are 

 isolated ones found in the crevices of the rocks. 



Did the ruin of these banks arise from excessive and 

 unlimited fishing, or must we attribute it, as at Brest, to the 

 successive transformations which the submarine soil must 

 have undergone, in consequence of the great works per- 

 formed in the bay, and the repeated dredgings which stirred 

 up the sand and the mud, and covered up the solid objects 

 to which the oysters might have attached themselves ? All 

 have, doubtless, contributed to this result ; but it is certain 

 that at the same time the oysters disappeared, several other 

 edible shell-fish, the mussel, for instance, became rare, and 

 certain migratory fish which usually visited the shores of 

 Toulon, as well as some stationary species, deserted the 

 coast. This state of affairs aroused the solicitude of the 

 marine administration. The labors of M. Coste had just 

 then been meeting with great favor in France. Numerous 

 attempts to introduce into our waters the oyster-cultural 

 methods, brought by that gentleman from Italy, were 

 repeated at various points along our sea-coast. The task of 

 renewing the oyster banks of the roadstead of Toulon, and 

 making of oyster-cultural experiments there, was confided to 

 M. Coste about the year 1859. He proceeded in the follow- 

 ing manner: Spawning oysters, with which he hoped to 

 accomplish the restocking, were brought from England and 

 Arcachon, and planted, some at points that had been 



