Bl VAL VE MOLL USCA. 



39 * 



captive in the protected basins, where they are sheltered from various 

 causes of destruction to which oysters are exposed in the open sea. 



Upon the bottom of the lake, and all around it, the proprietors of 

 Fusaro have here and there constructed hillocks, with stones heaped 

 up, and 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 sur- 

 rounded by a girdle of piles, driven close to each other, and raised a 



Fig. 173. Pillars with cords attached in Lake Fusaro. 



little above the surface of the water, as represented in Fig. 172. 

 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 fry before they are driven away by the waves. 

 By these precautions the proprietors 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. 173. 



