294 THE SEAS 



that, according to Pliny, they endeavoured with apparent 

 success to increase the natural supply by cultivating 

 them artificially in Lake Lucrin, and Roman funeral vases 

 from the time of Augustus have been discovered on which 

 are designs showing the method of cultivation. 



There are many species of oyster but only two inhabit 

 the coasts of Europe, the " native " oyster (Ostrea edulis) 

 and the Portuguese oyster {Ostrea angulata) ; the former, 

 as shown in Plate 105, being round and flat, and the latter 

 more elongated and deeper, while, as we shall see, there 

 are other important differences between them. The 

 Portuguese oyster, as its name tells us, is a more southern 

 species and was originally found mainly around the Iberian 

 Peninsula ; but of recent years it has spread northwards 

 along the coast of France at the expense of the more highly 

 esteemed, but much less hardy, native. The latter is 

 still the only kind of oyster found around the shores of 

 Great Britain, where the water is too cold for the Portuguese 

 oyster, and it also occurs northward along the west coast 

 of Europe as far as the middle of the Norwegian coast, 

 though the most northerly fishery of any great importance 

 is in Denmark. The oyster is largely a shallow-water 

 animal with a preference for estuaries, and this has made 

 possible its artificial cultivation, which forms an important 

 industry in many parts of the world especially in France 

 and Japan. 



Oyster Cultivation 



The history of oyster cultivation in Europe is a 

 fascinating one. As we have already seen, in this, as in so 

 much else, the Romans were the pioneers, and it is probable 

 that the crude methods of cultivation in use at the present 

 day on Lake Fusaro, and in the Gulf of Taranto in Italy, 

 have been handed down from the days of the Romans. 



