[9] OYSTER-CULTURE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. - 915 
the banks along our coasts, and the deposits which had been of consid- 
erable importance were speedily exhausted. The oysters now taken at 
Toulon are isolated ones found in the crevices of the rocks. 
Did the ruin of these banks arise from excessive and unlimited fish- 
ing, or must we attribute it, as at Brest, to the successive transforma- 
tions which the submarine soil must have undergone, in consequence of 
the great works performed in the bay, and the repeated dred gings which 
stirred up the sand and the mud, and covered up the solid objects to 
which the oysters might have attached themselves? All have, doubt- 
less, contributed to this result; but it is certain that at the same time 
_ the oysters disappeared, several other edible shell-fish, the mussel, for 
instance, became rare, and certain migratory fish which usually visited 
the shores of Toulon, as well as some stationary species, deserted the 
coast. This state of affairs aroused the solicitude of the marine admin- 
istration. The labors of M. Coste had just then been meeting with 
great favor in France. Numerous attempts to introduce into our waters 
the oyster-cultural methods, brought by that gentleman from Italy, were 
repeated at various points along our sea-coast. The task of renewing 
the oyster banks of the roadstead of Toulon, and of making oyster-cul- 
tural experiments there, was confided to M. Coste about the year 1859. 
He proceeded in the following manner: Spawning oysters, with which he 
hoped to accomplish the restocking, were brought from England and 
Arcachon, and plante’!, some at points that had been previously ex- 
plored, and found to be most favorable for the preservation and increase 
of the mollusk, especially near Seyne, the others in suspended baskets. 
Collectors, consisting of fascines or pieces of wood, were placed around 
the reproducing oysters. The oysters distributed in the improvised 
parks and those contained in the baskets acted differently; the latter 
spawned abundantly, and grew rapidly during the entire summer; the 
others spawned but little, or at least their spawn was without vitality ; 
they thrived miserably during the season following their spawning, and 
finally perished. This was the fate of them all. This result, though 
not a negative one, having been deemed unsatisfactory, the experiments 
were, too hastily perhaps, abandoned. 
In order that the fatal influences should not always exist as a check 
to oyster culture in the Mediterranean in the future, it is expedient to 
seek the causes that have led tothem. In the first place, it must be re- 
membered that M. Coste could not do everything. He had charge, 
simultaneously, of the attempts at oyster culture in the ocean and the 
restocking of our fresh-water streams; he was organizing a model fish- 
cultural establishment at Huningue, at the same time that he was pursu- 
ing in his laboratory at the College of France scientific researches, which 
he afterwards made known in his lectures; finally, he was engaged in the 
preparation of interesting reports. He was thus unable to observe with 
all the necessary assiduity the different phases of the experiment, to 
watch its progress, and to modify it in case of need. Notwithstanding 
