78 Transactions. 



bed deserted as worthless several years before had been re- 

 discovered. When we considered the enormous reproductiveness 

 of the oyster, it would be apparent that when we had become 

 sufficiently acquainted with the habits and needs of the mollusc it 

 will be possible largely to increase the supply by cultivation. The 

 oyster is hermaphrodite, and produces a million young. It had 

 been calculated that on some of the beds the number of young- 

 oysters given off at spawning time was something over two 

 trillions, a number sufficient to stock the sea for miles and miles 

 around. Yet we found that the oyster beds did not grow any 

 larger. The oyster is an exceedingly delicate shell fish. It will 

 only grow upon certain places, and these of very rare occurrence 

 upon the sea bottom. A great part of our coasts consist of shifting 

 sand or a bed of mud, and on these the oyster will not live. Even 

 a rocky bottom is not suitable. It is upon sea bottoms where the 

 currents deposit a considerable mass of shells and small stones 

 that the oyster finds itself at home. The very best bed is formed 

 by the shells of the oysters themselves. Then they require water 

 of a particular density and to be protected from extremes of 

 temperature. Ice water and snow carried down to the narrow 

 seas or an enormous mass of fresh water poured in might in- 

 juriously affect them. Oysters cannot bear to be frozen, and for 

 that reason few are found at places from which the tide recedes. 

 When we get a great substratum of oyster shells the oysters are 

 very prolific ; but if the shells are carried away, as they are when 

 the oysters are dredged and sent to market, the beds at last 

 become worked up and destroyed. The little oysters pass from 

 the parent like a small cloud, floating away to the sea. They 

 soon rise to the surface, and are carried about by currents and 

 tides, sometimes to great distances. Then they suddenly cease 

 floating about, and fall gradually to the sea bottom — •" fall to rise 

 no more," unless the dredger pulls them up after a number of 

 years. If they fall on to mud or sand they immediately perish ; 

 but when they come in contact with a favourable substance, they 

 adhere to it and go on growing, and in the course of a few years 

 are ready for the table. The oyster at this early stage was known 

 as " spat." The length oyster cultivation has yet gone is about 

 this, that by laying down a large number of brood oysters upon 

 the oyster bed and allowing them naturally to give off their 

 young, the sea water all around becoming charged with 



