OYSTEES. 



377 



tors of Fusaro have constructed hillocks here and there, with stones 

 heaped up, artificial rocks, raised sufficiently to shelter the depots 

 from mud and slime. Upon these rocks they deposit the young 

 oysters gathered in the Gulf of Tarentum. Each of these rock-works 

 is surrounded by a girdle of piles, driven close to each other, and 

 raised a little above the surface of the water, as represented in Fig. 173. 



Fig. 173. ArtiGcial Oyster-bank in Lake Fusaro. 



Other piles are distributed in long lines, and bound to each other 

 by a cord, from which are suspended fagots of young wood. In the 

 spawning season the oysters which have been deposited on the arti- 

 ficial rocks discharge the myriads of young fry which have been 

 nurtured in the folds of their mantles. The fagots suspended from 

 the piles arrest the germ before it is driven away by the waves, much 

 as a swan attaches itself to the first shrub which comes in the way. 

 By these precautions the riverains of Fusaro have provided for the 

 preservation of the young fry, besides removing many of the natural 

 enemies of the young oyster. 



In other places the piles are distributed in long lines and bound 

 together by strong cords, from which fagots of brushwood are sus- 

 pended, on which the young spawn lay hold, as in Fig. 174. 



By means of these arrangements the pregnant oyster deposits its 

 spawny progeny in quiet repose ; the young germs are intercepted by 

 the fagots and hurdles suspended between the piles, where the young 



