698 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [16] 
no muscular foot, as an organ of locomotion, is formed in its place, as 
with most other bivalves. The oyster must thus remain upon that spot 
where it settles at the close of its swimming career. If currents and 
waves cover it with sand, if, during tidal changes, the quiet water allows 
mud to sink down upon it, if plants luxuriate over it, then, being unable 
to work its way out into free water, and wander to a better place, it must 
remain as it is, and, from lack of air and nourishment, soon perish. 
5.—ARTIFICIAL OYSTER-BREEDING IN FRANCE. 
The yield of many once rich oyster-beds along the west coast of 
France had fallen off to such an extent from 1850 to 1860 that Prof. P. 
Coste* of Paris, the originator of the celebrated fish-breeding establish- 
ment near Hiiningen, in Alsace, presented, in 1859, to the Emperor Na- 
poleon III, a plan for the artificial breeding of oysters, by which means 
he would prevent the destruction of a large number of young oysters at 
the beginning of their lives as independent animals. The first attempt 
to render the impoverished oyster-beds once more fruitful was madé in 
the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, upon the north coast of Brittany. Here, where 
1,400 men were formerly engaged yearly in fishing for oysters, and where 
the yield was of the annual value of from 300,000 to 400,000 francs, 
the oyster-fishery, during the ten years from 1850 to 1860, had become 
almost entirely valueless. 
In the months of April and May, 1858, under the direction of Professor 
Coste, vast numbers of the old shells of oysters and other mollusks were 
scattered over the ground, and great numbers of fascines were sunk and 
anchored with stones so as to float in the water just free above the bot- 
tom. After 1,000 hectares of sea-bottom had thus been excellently pre- 
pared for the reception of the young oyster-broods, three millions of 
mature oysters were planted upon it. 
In the autumn all the shells and the twigs of the fascines were 
found so thickly covered with young oysters that even the wildest ex- 
pectations were more than realized. 
This abundance of young oysters was something indeed entirely 
natural. Professor Coste, in his report to the Emperor, January 12, 
1859, says, when speaking of this experiment in the Bay of Saint- 
Brieuc, that every mature oyster produces from two to three million 
embryos, but he does not inform us as to his authority for this state- 
ment. If we allow that those oysters which were planted for breed- 
ing purposes in the Bay of Saint-Brieue produced each only the same 
number of embryos as are produced by a-Schleswig-Holstein oyster, the 
entire progeny would amount to the enormous sum of 1,320,000,000,000, 
young oysters. Such a number would allow 132,000 to fall upon every 
square meter of sea-bottom, and for the reception of this number 
* Professor Coste died in 1873. His chief work, upon the artificial breeding of oysters, 
mussels, and fish, appeared under the title: ‘“‘ Voyage d’Exploration sur le Littoral de 
la France et de l'Italie, 2. éd., Paris, 1861.” 
