THE OYSTER. 55 



Life of the Young Oyster. — The young Ameri- 

 can oyster leads a peculiarly precarious life, since 

 it is first thrown out an unfertilized egg, and the 

 chance that it will immediately meet with a male cell 

 must be very slight; yet if it does not it will perish, 

 for the sea-water soon destroys unimpregnated eggs. 

 Having by good chance become fertilized by meet- 

 ing a male cell, the next period of great danger is 

 the short time during which the embryos swarm to 

 the surface of the water. They are so perfectly de- 

 fenseless, and so crowded together close to the sur- 

 face, that a small fish, swimming along with open 

 mouth, might easily swallow, in a few mouthfuls, 

 a number equal to a year's catch. They are also 

 exposed to the weather, and a sudden cold wind 

 or fall in temperature, such as occurred several 

 times during our experiments, killed every embryo. 

 The number which are destroyed by cold rains and 

 winds must be very great indeed. As soon as they 

 are safely past this stage, and scatter and swim at 

 various depths, their risks from accidents and enemies 

 are greatly diminished. Up to this point, which is 

 reached in from twenty-four hours to six days, there is 

 no difficulty in rearing them in an aquarium, provided 

 uniform warm temperature be preserved. 



Although I failed to keep the young oysters alive 

 until they were large enough to handle and plant, my 

 experiments showed the possibility of rearing them in 

 unlimited numbers, so soon as some practical method 

 of preserving them alive during their infancy should 

 be discovered. 



