[94 OYSTERS IN BAY OF ARCACHON. 939 
D.—PROTECTION OF “CLAIRES,” OR OYSTER BASINS, BY 
MEANS OF OVERHANGING STRIPS AND WIRE 
SCREENS. 
A large number of oysterculturists lose the greater part of their 
young oysters, or find them often endangered, from the want of proper 
means of protection. When spring arrives the tére, thouy,* and many 
other rapacious fish which are fond of oysters, invade our bays, and 
create great havoc. “But,” some will say, “we have done everything, 
and our efforts have proved powerless against the numerous and vora- 
cious enemies; nothing can save us from them.” After many attempts, 
I have just devised a method of protection, which may be easily arranged, 
and which serves to shield the mollusk from the attacks of erabs and 
other oyster-eating animals. The following means are apparently the 
Fic. 4.—The crab. 
Over the walls of my claires, which are built of tiles and a very 
resisting clay, I fasten from the base to near the middle boards, about 
twenty centimeters (74 inches) in height, bound together on the inside 
by means of strong stakes driven in at a distance of a meter (34 feet) 
apart; and in this way I arrange a block of five or six clatres touching 
one another, the continuity not being interrupted either below or between 
the boards. Along the upper edge of the boards, and jutting outward 
from them, I fasten a strip of zine about eight millimeters (one-third 
inch) wide, which is firmly held in place by a small lath. The crab, 
[*I have not been able to identify these fishes from their vernacular names.—ED. } 
