300 THE SEAS 



after which they are taken back into the parks and placed in 

 " ambulances." These may hold at first as many as 15,000 

 young oysters, but as growth proceeds this number is 

 steadily diminished by the transference of many of them 

 to new ambulances or on to the open beds. The ambulances, 

 being raised on legs some little distance from the ground, 

 protect their contents from all danger of suffocation by 

 mud which, under normal circumstances, is responsible 

 for the destruction of countless numbers of newly settled 

 spat. The cases are examined repeatedly and all enemies 

 removed. Meanwhile the old tiles have been scraped free 

 from the old coating of lime, washed, and stacked away in 

 preparation for the new season, before which they will 

 be relimed. 



Oysters are not exported until they are about two years 

 old, and about two inches in diameter. They are then, 

 of course, not of marketable size but are sold to oyster 

 fattening farms of which those in the neighbourhood of 

 Marennes are the most famous. Many also are exported 

 to Spain and some to England. Oysters which are sold 

 for immediate consumption are usually from four to five 

 years old, and these are produced annually in tremendous 

 numbers, and sent all over France and to many other parts 

 of Europe. The process of oyster rearing is carried on in 

 many other places along the west coast of France, though 

 nowhere are the conditions so ideal nor the industry so 

 nourishing as at Arcachon. 



The " fattening " of oysters forms a separate industry in 

 certain parts, the most important of which is in the district 

 round the mouth of the River Seudre, near Marennes and 

 La Tremblade. Here the land is flat and clayey and in it 

 are dug series of shallow basins or " claires," into which 

 open canals through which sea water enters during spring 

 tides (Plate 108). During the intervening periods the water 



