ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTURE. 1139 



The following is the text of Professor Brooks' s report 

 as to his researches on oysters : 



" During the past year experiments which have been 

 carried on in France and in this country have resulted in 

 the practical application of the methods of artificial oyster 

 propagation which were discovered at the laboratory five 

 years ago, and the great economic importance of the sub- 

 ject will justify a short review of the history of these experi- 

 ments. 



" Previously to 1879 our knowledge of the breeding 

 habits of the oyster was entirely based upon the study of 

 the oysters of Northern Europe, and nothing whatever was 

 known of the life history of the American oyster, as our 

 writers had accepted without question the statements of 

 foreign authorities. The oyster of Northern Europe is 

 hermaphrodite, and as the eggs are hatched inside the shell 

 of the parent, and the young are thus carried and protected 

 until they are ready to fasten themselves, good authorities 

 had stated that it is not possible to rear oysters arti- 

 ficially. 



"In 1879 I found that the sexes are separate in the 

 American oyster, and that the unfertilized eggs are thrown 

 out in immense numbers into the water, where they are 

 fertilized, and develop without the need for any protection 

 from their parents. I also showed that it is possible to 

 fertilize the eggs artificially, and to rear the young oysters 

 until long after they have acquired their shells, though I 

 did not succeed in keeping them alive until they became 

 attached. These experiments showed the perfect practica- 

 bility of rearing oysters in unlimited numbers, as soon as the 

 practical difficulties should be overcome. 



" A full account of my experiments and of the methods 

 employed was published, with figures of the early stages of 



