OYSTER CULTURE IN FRANCE. 551 



wanting, namely, sufficient openings. The stations in Nor- 

 mandy, and the few establishments in Brittany, where 

 rearing alone is carried on, are not sufficient to find room 

 for the hundreds of millions of young oysters which are 

 collected yearly in the two rivers of Auray and La Trinite, 

 which are of inexhaustible fertility. The harvest of spat 

 in 1876 will be even more considerable than in former years. 



At first it was considered satisfactory if 20 or 25 

 embryos stuck on a single tile ; now the average number 

 is over 250 to 300. Some tiles even are found bearing 

 more than 1000 specimens. 



I shall conclude with some statistical figures which the 

 Commissaire at Auray has been good enough to furnish me 

 with, and which will sum up eloquently all that I could now 

 add : 



The total number of oyster establishments conceded 

 and worked is 297, which comprise 277 pares and 20 claires. 



During the season of 1875-76, 4,401,400 dredged 

 oysters were placed in the pares. Their approximate value 

 was 118,425 francs 18 cents. 



During the same period 7,538,150 oysters out of these 

 very pares sold for 202,801 francs. The difference between 

 the number of oysters put in and that taken out is made up 

 by the spat that each parc-owner rears every year. 



The number of spat sold during the same time, either 

 to the establishments on the coasts or to strangers, and 

 resulting from the clearing of the tiles, has been 26,176,300, 

 representing a value of 102,385 francs. 



In 1874, on collectors comprising 2,580,370 tiles, 

 110,563,750 spat were born. This is allowing for losses 

 resulting from picking off and from death. Auray under 

 this head is responsible for 66,195,900. There remained 

 in the pares, on the ist January, 1876, 97,348,950 spat, of 



