536 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



Fossemort belongs, both as regards methods and cli- 

 mate, to the Norman group of ostricultural stations. Before 

 proceeding further to take up the coast of Brittany, I shall 

 try to summarise the impressions which the establishments 

 which I have already passed in review have left upon me, 

 I should say that these establishments are really part and 

 parcel of one another. Each station corresponds to one 

 phase in the rearing of the oyster. Le Vivier produces the 

 spat, Grand Camp affords the rearing in the first stage, at 

 La Hougue and Cancale the oysters grow and fatten, and 

 Courseulle prepares them for sending away. 



BREST. 



The maritime district of Brest is the one which con- 

 tains the greatest number of oyster-beds, but, as everywhere 

 else, these natural banks were at one time exhausted by the 

 improvidence and cupidity of the fishermen. Speaking 

 only of the Bay of Brest, where formerly 27 could be 

 counted, it appears from official documents (the communi- 

 cation of which I owe to the kindness of the commissaire- 

 general, M. Dauriac), that at present only 17 remain, and 

 of this number there are only six in which any traces of 

 reproduction are met with. M. Coste ascertained this 

 deteriorated state of things, which was far advanced even 

 in 1857, an d with the view of remedying it, he caused a 

 large number of fascines to be laid down in the bay, but 

 the sea carried them all away, and the attempts were 

 abandoned. 



Is it fair to say that the fishermen were the sole authors 

 of this destruction ? Without doubt they had the greatest 

 share in it, but natural circumstances, to a certain extent, 

 helped to complete it. The piercing whelk (murexj, so 

 formidable to the bivalve of which I speak, at one time 



