238 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



basins, was strougenongli to make tho tide felt in the inside of the ba- 

 sins. Dnring an entire month embryos were thrown in from time to 

 time; even oysters were put inside which were found to have black 

 spawn. And still our collectors showed no sign of spawn. 



What is the reason that the eggs and embryos of the Ostrea cdulis^ 

 at least during the entire period of gestation and up to tho time when 

 the embryo leaves the maternal shelter, cannot live outside the liquid 

 contained in the shell; and why do they die in pure sea-water? Has 

 it not been observed that tlie Havor of the water contained within the 

 shells of a common oyster differs from that of the natural sea-water? 

 The former has a peculiar and very agreeable Uavor which the latter 

 does not possess. In this difference we thought we could lind an ex- 

 planation, or at least an explanation of i)art of the phenomenon in 

 question. It appears from an analysis made in the laboratory of M. 

 Berthelot, the result of which we have given in another place, that the 

 water of the oyster (that which had been subjected to an analysis had 

 been taken from spawning oysters) contains, among other substances, 

 a considerable quantity of albumen. It is well known that the sea- 

 water does not contain a particle of that substance. Is the albumen 

 the only substance causing this difference of flavor '? We do not know 

 as yet, and new exi^eriments will be necessary to demonstrate it. 



We have dwelt at such length on experiments which have only 

 yielded negative results for several reasons: First, because we think 

 that the problem, whose solution we have sought in vain, will one day 

 be i)ractically solved ; secondly, because Ave deem it the duty of every 

 searcher for truth to report what he has seen and observed, in what 

 way he proceeded, and at what final point he arrived in his researches, 

 with the view to facilitate the researches of those who may go in the 

 same direction, thus saving them the useless and disappointing first 

 attempts; thirdly, because, under date of July 15, 1881, we received 

 from Bergen, IsTorway, a letter addressed to us by Mr. Kjorbo Schmidth, 

 secretary of the Society for the Promotion of the Norwegian Fisheries, 

 in which he advised us that he had succeeded in fixing the embryos of 

 oysters on potsherds deposited on the bottom of the vessel containing 

 these embryos. Although fortune has not favored us like our intelli- 

 gent and sympathetic competitors in oyster culture beyond the North 

 Sea, we can nevertheless say that we have done all we could. We 

 deem it interesting to give here some extracts from the letter in ques- 

 tion. 



In the beginning the writer states that the spawn of two mother 

 oysters was ])laced in a vessel whose water was renewed every day by 

 pouring in a bottle of sea-water. He then goes on to say: "In this 

 vessel even wo could notice the influence of the rain and a lower tem- 

 perature on these small animals. When there was bright sunshine 

 they sported about near the surface: but we had only to lower the cur- 

 tains at the windows to make them perfectly quiet. If from the sun they 



