374 SUPPLEMENT 
extended, to suffice for the continual fishing which has taken 
place there for so long a time, without any sign of diminution. 
Nevertheless, from 1774, to 1777, we carried off so great a 
number, with the intent of forming a bank upon our own 
coasts, that some diminution was perceived in the bay ; but 
it was very speedily supplied. Although the French may 
certainly be said alone to possess the right of fishing in this 
bay, it is yet open to all nations, but not at all periods of the 
year. The fishing usually commences at the end of Septem 
ber, and finishes in April; during the other months it is se- 
verely interdicted, because then is the time of spawning, and 
the oyster is supposed to be of an injurious quality. This 
idea, which is probably erroneous, is nevertheless a useful 
prejudice ; for, otherwise, the continual fishing would soon 
destroy the bank, not only by subtracting the adult indivi- 
duals, but also by destroying the sources of reproduction. 
The mode of fishing is very simple. Itis performed by means 
of what is called the drag, which is a sort of iron rake or har- 
row, behind which is attached a leathern pouch, and which is 
drawn along by a boat in full sail. By thus raking the sur- 
face of the bank, sometimes as many as eleven or twelve 
hundred are taken at a single haul. These oysters, shipped 
in the ports of Granville and Cancale, are then transported to 
the different places where parks or depots have been esta- 
blished for them. ‘These parks not only answer the purpose 
of preserving the oysters and facilitating the sale, but also of 
ameliorating them, as the ancient Romans well knew long 
ago. In fact, the oyster when it first comes from the sea, has 
a strong taste of the muddy bottom, is more or less hard, and 
of an indifferent flavour altogether. It acquires the desired 
qualities in those parks, or beds, which we have mentioned. 
They are simply reservoirs, more or less extensive, excavated 
in the soil, or even in the rock, as at Etretat, and into which, 
at will, the sea-water may be permitted to enter at full tide, 
