BIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 393 



Trequiers were distributed in ten longitudinal lines on tiles, frag- 

 ments of pottery, and valves of shells. At the end of eight months 

 the progress of the beds was tested, and the dredge in a few 

 minutes brought up 2,000 oysters fit for the table, while two 

 fascines drawn up at random contained nearly 20,000, from one to 

 two inches in diameter. Two of these fascines exposed to public 

 view at Beni and Patrieux excited the astonishment of the maritime 

 population. 



This result encouraged M. Coste to pursue his experiments upon 

 a greater scale; and he now proposed to bring the whole littoral under 

 a regulated system of oyster culture. In the roads of Toulon and in 

 Lake Thau, which touches this port, the same system was put in force 

 by the Administration of Marine as had already been done in the Bay 

 of Arcachon and in the Isle of Re. In these localities oyster culture 

 assumed gigantic proportions. Associations were formed for the 

 purpose of prosecuting them, and forming oyster-parks. 



These exertions roused the curiosity of foreign nations. Van 

 Beneden, the distinguished Professor of Natural History at Louvain, 

 and M. Eschrecht of Copenhagen, visited France, to study the 

 arrangements for oyster culture. M. Coste demonstrated that parks 

 could be established on all places visited by the tide; and, under his 

 advice, the Bay of Arcachon is now transformed into a vast field of 

 production, which increases every day, giving the happiest presages 

 of an abundant harvest. Already 1,200 capitalists, associated 

 with a similar number of fishermen, have caused a surface of 988 

 acres, which is exposed at low water, to be planted with oysters. In 

 this bay the State has organised two model farms for experimental 

 purposes, in which tiles, fascines, and valves of shells are laid down, 

 with other appliances, to which the young oysters may attach them- 

 selves. These expedients have been so successful, that the park, 

 which has cost about ^"114, is now estimated to be worth about 

 ,8,000 in money, with a total of 5,000,000 oysters, large and small. 

 The Isle of Re, which was originally surrounded by a muddy bottom 

 ill adapted for oyster culture, has been totally changed, so that in two 

 years four leagues of foreshore have been turned into a rich and 

 profitable oyster-bed; 1,200 parks are in full activity, and 2,000 

 others are in course of construction, the whole forming a complete 

 girdle round the island. 



Every one has heard of the green oysters of Marennes, the 

 preservation, amelioration, and ripening of these oysters, so to speak, 

 representing a very considerable branch of industry in France. In 

 order to give the reader some idea of its importance, we shall give 



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