47 



demand from the fattening centres where the culturists 

 are giving attention to spat collection on their own 

 account and to the culture of the cheap and popular 

 Portuguese species. Another factor is the desire of the 

 Arcachon producer to counterbalance the lower prices 

 offered in recent years for half-grown oysters by putting 

 on the market full-grown stock for which a higher price 

 is paid ; he is willing to put in more labour and wait 

 longer for his market if thereby he may obtain a higher 

 return. The change also shows the favourable effect of 

 low prices upon the annual consumption. Till a few 

 years ago oysters were a luxury for the well-to-do ; 

 now-a-days, thanks to competition, the curtailment of 

 cultural expenses and the advent of the culture of the 

 Portuguese oyster — cheaply grown, tasty and large of 

 body — oysters of fair quality are now within the reach 

 of the masses and Arcachon benefits accordingly, for its 

 oysters have not the reputation of those of Marennes and 

 being unable to fetch a high price are more and more in 

 request by those of limited purse. 



Besides the regulation forbidding the exportation * of 

 oysters under 5 cms. in size, another is in force restrict- 

 ing the export of all oysters of legal size to the period 

 between 1st September and 15th May. According to 

 the number to be sold or the condition of the sale the 

 oysters are classed either on the park itself or after 

 being brought ashore. Experience enables the skilled 

 parker to estimate the grade of his different oysters very 

 accurately by eye. In collecting them for delivery to 

 the purchasers, his employes rake the oysters together 

 into heaps, count them roughly by hundreds into net- 

 bags (panne tic res), and load them into the pinasses. On 

 delivery, the buyer or his agent selects a bag here and 

 there, counts, weighs and otherwise verifies the confor- 

 mity of the delivery to the samples on which the sale 

 was effected. The custom is to count 1,010 oyster to 



* Exportation here means sale outside the limits of the basin ; it is not used in 

 the more usual sense meaning despatch to foreign countries, 



