924 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [18] 
month of October, 1877, towards the center of the lake it ranged from 
2°.8 to 3°, and on the banks it was about 2°.5 to 29.6. 
Lake Berre would not, however, in all its parts serve for the culture 
of shell-fish or for the establishment of fish-cultural reserves ; in the first 
place those localities must be excepted which are too deep, or at too great 
a distance from the shore, and those in which such violent currents pre- 
vail as to render it impossible, as shown by experience, to maintain 
there pieces of apparatus, and, finally, the localities which are most 
exposed to the northwest winds. But there are to the west some sec- 
tions of coast where violent winds and currents rarely prevail, and it is 
on one of these that the commissioner of maritime registry at Martigues 
has established a park, by way of experiment, to attempt the acclimation, 
breeding, and raising of oysters. The experiments are still in their in- 
fancy, but they promise a successful issue. The oysters that have been 
used were taken in the vicinity of Port-de-Bouc. They were first placed 
in baskets submerged at a suitable depth, quickly attained great vigor, 
and soon lost the salty and somewhat muddy taste which they had on 
leaving the sea; but still more important, not a single loss occurred, 
The experiment was made only with reference to the oyster, but an in- 
cident occurred which leaves no doubt as to the possibility of artificially 
cultivating the mussel in the lake of Berre. The baskets in which the 
oysters had been imprisoned, when placed in the water, at spawning 
time were covered in a few days with small mussels. 
Let us seek to discover then, (for it cannot require a great deal of time 
or money), the apparatus to be used in Lake Berre in order to collect 
and preserve the spat of this mollusk: let the system of ropes which 
is used at Tarente and Fusaro with so much success again be tried, if, 
in this case, the crawls and the rafts do not succeed, and when the proper 
apparatus shall have been found there is a strong probability, not to 
say certainty (as is proved by what I have said above, especially if the 
rational rules which have been pointed out by science and practice be 
observed, and if suitable localities be chosen), that mussel culture will be 
established there, and attain all the prosperity which has been attained 
by the sister industry, oyster culture, at Arcachon and in the sea of Mor- 
bihan. 
Below Lake Berre is Lake Caronte, as rich in shell-fish and other fish 
as the first named, and finally Port-de-Bouc, where oyster-cultural ex- 
periments were made by M. Viand; but a dry summer coming, the oys- 
ters all perished. Since Caronte and Port-de-Bouce were placed in more 
perfect communication with Lake Berre, however, the fishermen have 
remarked that certain kinds of edible shell-fish which had become very 
scarce have reappeared in large numbers. 
Of the section reaching from the gulf of Fos to Lake Thau there is 
nothing to be said. In the latter, in 1865 and in 1866, M. Coste caused 
oysters to be placed at points chosen by himself. He wished to restore 
to these fine sheets of water the oysters which had disappeared from 
