ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTURE. I 14 1 



are thrown out into the water ; that the young are inde- 

 pendent of parental protection, and that they can be reared 

 from artificially fertilized eggs. 



"The methods by which he succeeded in rearms; these 



* o 



young oysters are described in his report, as follows : Two 

 oyster-planting ponds, separated from each other by a 

 straight massive wall of earth, and having an area of about 

 100 metres each, and an average depth of about one metre, 

 were placed in communication by means of a pipe which 

 was closed at each end by a sponge to filter sediment from 

 the water and to guard against the accidental introduction 

 of spat. The outlet from the ponds was guarded by a dam 

 of fine sand confined between boards, and thus allowing the 

 water to escape, but retaining the swimming embryos. 

 Artificially impregnated eggs were then poured into the 

 lower pond in great numbers during the latter part of June 

 and the month of July. The pond was furnished with tiles 

 for the attachment of the spat, and on July 24 each of 

 these tiles was found to have attached to its surface 20 or 

 30 young oysters, about two-fifths of an inch in diameter. 

 Finally, during the early part of October, he states that he 

 had the honour of presenting to the Minister of Marine a 

 tile upon which 2,000 young oysters could be counted, 

 measuring from two-fifths to four fifths of an inch in 

 diameter. 



" This interesting paper, which has been translated into 

 English by J. A. Ryder, and published in the Bulletin of 

 the U.S. Fish Commission for April 19, 1883, shows the 

 practicability of the economic application of the more 

 purely scientific experiments which were carried on at our 

 laboratory in 1879. The author acknowledges that he was 

 incited by these experiments and our own share in the 

 work is therefore exactly what we should wish the dis- 



