OYSTER CULTURE IN FRANCE. 619 



metre in diameter ; these evidently dated from the end of 

 June or the commencement of July, but their diminutive 

 size had prevented their being seen at the inspection which 

 was then held. On the 24th July we had some specimens 

 of about a month old ; this fact was the more remarkable, 

 inasmuch as at the very same time the collectors placed in 

 the Gironde, the very centre of reproduction, had not yet 

 received any spat.* 



The problem which we had proposed to ourselves had, 

 in a scientific and practical point of view, received a solu- 

 tion conformable to our expectations ; it was shown to be 

 possible to obtain spat from artificial fecundation, and to 

 keep it in closed waters. Nor could we at all doubt as to 

 the identity of the spat which our tiles had received, or 

 .suppose that it had come from without, considering that, 

 as has already been said, there was no spat as yet in the 

 Gironde, and also that the tiles placed in the upper claire, 

 used for feeding the experimental basin, were entirely 

 devoid of spat. 



If in forcing nature we arrived at such a result, namely, 

 the production of young before the normal period for the 

 emission of spawn, a fortiori, a more beneficial result might 

 be expected from aiding and assisting her. While con- 

 ducting our researches in the establishment of M. Tripota, 

 we judged it desirable to vary our modes of inquiry, and 

 even to investigate the industrial side of the operation. 



Along the course of the channel of Conseiller, and fed 







by it, are certain old salt marshes, for the most part aban- 

 doned or diverted from their original uses, but a few of 

 which have been transformed into reservoirs for fish. The 

 marsh in which we established ourselves is about two kilo- 



* Note to the Academy of Sciences, nth July, 1882. 



