552 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



which more than 60,000,000 were in the Syndicate of 

 Auray. But, without exaggeration, the spat remaining for 

 disposal may be estimated at 120,000,000. The concession- 

 naires, as a rule, complain of little but low prices. 



Without counting the associations of working fisher- 

 men, and setting aside the cost of labour, which is almost 

 nothing, the number of working days of the star! employed 

 in the pares during the last season has been as follows : 

 for men, 35,819 days; for women, 51,709 days; for chil- 

 dren, 2150 days ; altogether, 89,678 days. 



The result of this work is that the natural oyster-beds, 

 kept in good order, well watched, and moderately worked, 

 become more and more fertile, and the fishery on these 

 banks, which it was feared would disappear for ever, has, 

 on the contrary, become more productive. 



It should further be stated that, in the case of families 

 willing to work, misery has been succeeded by comfort ; 

 and it must not be forgotten that the district of Auray is 

 only commencing this industry. 



VANNES. 



Before the gathering of spat had become a consider- 

 able branch of industry in the district of Auray, efforts 

 were, as regards the Gulf of Morbihan and the River of 

 Vannes, confined to allowing the oysters dredged on the 

 hitherto fertile banks of that bay to grow in the pares. M. 

 Chaumel had, however, for some years past entertained the 

 idea of making trials in reproduction, but they were 

 without result. 



The banks of the Sea of Morbihan had already been 

 long exhausted, and trawl-fishing, which was continually 

 practised, had prevented the few embryos which the still 

 remaining oysters produced from becoming fixed or grow- 



