Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 69 



the destruction of that race, nor more strange and 

 pathetic than the rescue, after eighteen years of solitude, 

 of its single survivor. 



There are two species of oysters native to European 

 waters. The flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, is found on the 

 northern shores. It is 

 rounded and flat, and 



its shell has a diameter f. '"■/"-- -#\ "Jt^<i\ 



of but two or three 

 inches (Figure 17). 

 It is hermaphroditic — 

 that is, both male and 

 female organs are de- 

 veloped in each indi- 

 vidual. 



Its cousin, the Por- 

 tuguese oyster, O. an- 

 gulata, found on the 

 southern shores, is not 

 so highly esteemed as 

 the flat oyster. It is said naturally to be elongated, even 

 when not crowded in clusters. It is very small (Figure 

 18). The sexes are separate. 



These oysters have been cultivated since ancient times. 

 Pliny, who may be called the father of a class of dis- 

 credited nature observers that still flourishes, states that 

 at the beginning of the seventh century oysters were 

 artificially reared with great success in Lake Lucrin; but 

 there is evidence to show that he had in this case been cor- 

 rectly informed. M. Coste, a French naturalist, and the 

 originator of modern oyster culture in Europe, describes 

 two funeral vases, one found at Pouille and the other 

 near Rome, which prove that oyster embryos were col- 



Fig. 17. — European flat oyster (Ostrea 

 edulis). (This and the following 

 figure are modifications of figures 

 by Professor Bashford Dean.) 



