820 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [68] 
that their growth continued as normally as in the open sea, and that 
they reproduced the same; he also noticed, what is more curious than 
important, that some species were capable even of being tamed and | 
would come to recognize the hand*that fed them; they could be handled 
and would even touch the hand in their evolutions. From these expe- 
riences of Guillou, made in restricted ponds, and since repeated by M. : 
Coste upon a grand scale at Concarneau, it is evident that the immedi- 
ate sale of lobsters and certain fish, the turbot, &c., when their size is 
such that they cannot command a remunerative price, is to-day an act of 
blamable prodigality and evil administration which is of profit to no one. 
Tt is the case of the farmer who would wastefully cut all his wheat because 
afew early stalks show ripe heads. The dwellers along our coast should, 
therefore, construct basins where the conditions of the open sea may be 
realized as nearly as possible, and where the water can be renewed often 
enough to remain fresh and pure; then after every fishing trip the catch 
should be culled, all the lobsters which can be sold immediately and at a 
good price being taken out and the remainder of an inferior size being 
placed in the basins to continue their development. From the basins they 
should not be removed until after they had attained a suitable size, and 
at such times as fishing could not be carried on, either from stress of 
weather or in observance of special rules for the marine fisheries. These 
basins should be constructed upon the model of claires, except that the 
renewal of water should be made more frequently, providing there is no 
danger of too rapid a deposit of mud, although in this case the mud 
may not produce such evil effects as in the rearing of oysters. One 
might also appropriate to this use the basins of purification, where the * 
water is held for a time before being admitted to the claires, and this 
could be done without abandoning the cultivation of mussels in the 
same basins. Those places should vary in depth from one-half a meter 
to three meters, and have artificial rockeries, built up of irregular pieces 
in such a manner as to form numerous cavities and crevices where a 
multitude of species could find protection’ out of the way of mud and 
undisturbed by heat or cold. The summits of these rockeries should 
reach a certain distance above the maximum level of the water to benefit 
those animals which at certain periods come out of the water into the 
air. Sand-banks should also be constructed at the level of the water, 
and, in a word, we ought to have here, so far as is practicable in the 
limited extent of these basins, all the diverse conditions of depth, bottom, 
light, &¢., which are met with in the sea where the different species live. 
In order to do this it will be necessary to observe the nature of those 
submarine localities which each species frequents by preference. But 
however frequent may be the renewal of the water it is impossible to 
prevent stagnation to a certain extent, which has the effect of diminishing 
the aeration of the water and increasing the production of noxious gases. 
To prevent this result, which would in a short time be fatal to the in- 
habitants of the ponds, it will be necessary to establish there, as far as 
