OSTREAD^E. OYSTER. 137 



name of " Anglo-Dutch." Dr. Knapp tells us that not 

 less than 800,000 tubs of oysters, each tub contain- 

 ing two English bushels, are annually procured 

 from the Normandy coast for the English market 

 and the Channel Islands, and large quantities are 

 sent from Arcachon. The principal oyster fisheries 

 on the French coast are those of Courseulles- 

 sur-Mer, Les Sables d'Olonne, Marennes, and La 

 Tremblade, which are used simply for rearing and 

 fattening purposes ; and those which may be regarded 

 as places of reproduction, are Granville, Cancale, 

 Auray, Vannes, lie d'Oleron, and Arcachon.* 



An interesting paragraph appeared in the ' Times/ 

 November 13th, 1862, on the cultivation of oysters 

 on the western coast of France. It is as follows : — - 

 " M. Coste has just communicated a paper to the 

 Academy of Sciences on the progress of his artificial 

 oyster-beds. Several thousands of the inhabitants of 

 the island of Re have been for the last four years en- 

 gaged in cleansing their muddy coast of the sediments 

 which prevented oysters from congregating there, and 

 as the work advances, the seed, wafted from Nieulle 

 and other oyster localities, settles in the new beds, 

 and, added to that transplanted, peoples the coast ; so 

 that 72,000,000 of oysters from one to four years old, 

 and nearly all marketable, is the lowest average re- 

 gistered per annum by the local administration, repre- 

 senting at the rate of from 25 to 30 francs per 

 thousand, which is the current price in the locality, a 

 sum of about two millions of francs, the produce of an 

 extremely limited surface. That the waves or currents 



* ' Report on the Principal Oyster Fisheries of France,' by Major 

 Kayes, 1878. 



