OYSTER AND MUSSEL REPORT, 65 
two, of the ‘‘ Portuguese’”’ oyster, Ostrea angulata. This 
they commence at the very beginning by placing in their 
parcs large quantities of plain tiles kept in place by stones, 
After the first summer these tiles are found to be covered 
with spat which has been produced from ‘‘ natural,”’ (7.e. 
not cultivated) Portuguese oysters in the neighbouring 
sea. The tiles are brought ashore in small flat boats and 
the young oysters are separated and then laid down again 
in the pares, where I am told they grow very rapidly so 
that at the end of a year they are very much larger than 
those at Arcachon of the same age. 
At Le Chateau I met Mons. Charles Laray, Courtier 
maritime, to whom I am indebted for some information in 
regard to the fisheries of the neighbourhood. M. Laray 
told me that there are now 10,000 people who make their 
living by oyster culture on this part of Oléron. The 
Portuguese oysters are found growing naturally over the 
rocks and anything else they can adhere to at several 
places in the neighbourhood such as the mouth of the 
river at Rochefort, and at Port des Barques, Fouras, &c. 
These are frequently gathered by the people while still 
small and transferred to the parcs. Flat oysters (O. edulis) 
were to be obtained in a similar manner round the coast 
twenty years ago, but now they say they are never seen. 
Mussels used also to be cultivated at Oléron, but they 
have become scarce, and do not seem to have been doing 
well during the last couple of years. This the men 
attribute to the hot seasons which they say are not 
favourable to mussel culture. Other shell fish (Tapes) are 
scraped up on the beach and brought into the market, but 
only in small quantities. 
The whole island of Oléron is very flat and the sea is 
taken for miles inland by means of canals so as to fill the 
claires and salt pans which one comes upon in driving 
