688 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



various phases of this experiment, would show definitely, 

 I think, what might be obtained by oyster culture on our 

 southern coasts. If the experiment was successful, as there 

 is every reason to suppose it would be, it would form a 

 starting point of information, calculated to establish 

 oyster-cultural industry in the Mediterranean. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



Last year I stated with legitimate satisfaction that the 

 industry of oyster culture in the ocean,, although in its 

 infancy, was in a flourishing condition, and secured the 

 existence on our shores of a maritime population of 

 200,000 souls. What a different spectacle is presented 

 between Port Vendres and Marseilles. At the former 

 place it is the picture of a commercial life asserting itself 

 the dawn of prosperity. I have seen an entire fishing 

 population engaged with indefatigable activity in all the 

 labours demanded by the culture of the molluscs, certain 

 of finding there the reward of their efforts. At the latter 

 one sees barren lakes,, a deserted beach, and an impover- 

 ished sea. 



The causes of the decadence of our southern shores 

 are extremely numerous and varied, and it is not for me to 

 examine them all. The principal causes are doubtless 

 geological ones. The alluvium transported by the rivers 

 flowing into the Gulf of Lyons, the total volume of which 

 exceeds 20,000,000 cubic meters (705,600,000 cubic feet) 

 per annum, has caused a displacement of the shore line, 

 the formation of lagoons, their progressive filling up, and 

 their transformation into marshes which have become 

 hotbeds of dangerous fevers. The fish, whose spawning 

 grounds were constantly buried beneath the mud, sought a 

 more stable shore, and man finally was obliged to flee from 



