60 THE OYSTER. 



derived from the spawn put out during the end of 

 June or the commencement of July ; but their small 

 size had prevented us from seeing them when the in- 

 spection was made at that time. On the 24th July we 

 had specimens about a month old. This fact was all 

 the more remarkable, in that, up to that same time, the 

 collectors placed in the Gironde, in the very center of 

 the spawning beds, did not show a sign of spat." 



"The problem which we had put before ourselves 

 had accordingly received, from a scientific and practi- 

 cal point of view, a solution in conformity with our 

 hopes. It was possible to obtain spat by means of 

 artificial fecundation, and to capture it in confined 

 waters. And we no longer had the slightest reason 

 to doubt the identity of that which had caught on our 

 tiles, nor to suppose that it came from the waters 

 without, since there was as yet none apparent in the 

 Gironde, and the tiles in the upper claire, which served 

 to feed the experimental claire, were completely 

 exempt." 



" If in forcing nature's processes we arrive at the 

 same result, that is, provoke the birth of the young 

 before the time of the normal emission of the spawn, 

 there is all the more reason for us to suppose that we 

 have an excellent means to aid and favor her." 



Such, briefly sketched, is the early history of the 

 oyster, and the process of rearing oysters artificially; 

 but its development is of vastly greater interest than 

 a mere description would indicate. It contains 

 enough material for philosophical meditation and for 

 scientific research to occupy many generations of 

 students, and the practical importance of a knowledge 



