OYSTER AND MUSSEL REPORT. 19 
bouchot system of mussel culture fully at the end of the 
section on the Bay of Aiguillon (p. 70). Expressed briefly, 
my opinion is that where mussels are now grown success- 
fully on the bed system the best we can do is to farm 
these beds carefully, and it would be useless to erect 
bouchots, except perhaps on the seaward side for the 
purpose of collecting more spat; but in places where from 
local conditions beds cannot be formed and where we know 
that there are plenty of embryonic mussels in the water, 
as evidenced by the quantities of young mussels that 
settle down on any post, drain pipe, or other occasional 
submerged object, it is highly probable that a system of 
bouchots would attract abundance of spat, and there is no 
reason to think that the mussels could not be reared as 
successfully on bouchots here as they are in France. I 
would recommend then, that in some such spot in one of 
our estuaries a set of bouchots should be established on a 
small scale. Such an experiment is obviously the only 
way of settling definitely whether or not the French 
method would be a practical success on the Lancashire 
coasts. 
I need scarcely say that I have made no attempt to 
abbreviate this lengthy report, as I feel that it is most 
important in a practical question of this nature that every 
fact and every opinion which 1s at all likely to be of value 
should be fully stated and carefully considered. I may 
say now in conclusion, as Professor Huxley said in his 
Royal Institution lecture in 1883, “‘I for my part believe 
that the only hope for the oyster consumer les first in 
oyster culture, and secondly in discovering a means of 
breeding oysters under such conditions that the spat shall 
be safely deposited. And I have no doubt that when 
those who undertake the business are provided with a 
proper knowledge of the conditions under which they have 
to work both these objects will be attained.” 
