104 



NATURE 



[December 13, 1894 



thiniiing out, rearranging, and adding fresh supplies, relays of 

 young oysters in their first year may occupy the ambulances for 

 eight months, although an iadividual oyster may only be in for a 

 month or so. 



Eventually all the oysters not sold to eleveurs get trans- 

 ferred from the ambulances to the open rectangular areas, 

 like little fields, which make up the rest of the pare. The low 

 banks bounding these areas are formed of two parallel rows of 

 close set vertical bunches of the local heath, Erica scoparia, 

 with the space between, a foot or more wide, filled in with masses 

 of a tenacious clay obtained from the He des Oiseaux. Planks 

 of wood and stakes, to strengthen the boundary, are also used in 

 places, and at one corner a sluice is formed, so that the water at 

 low tide may either be retained to a depth of 6 or S inches, or 

 allowed to run off as required. About one million oysters can 

 be accommodated in each little field, which is about at the rate 

 of 125 to the square metre. Going thoroughly over a pare, 

 partly in a boat and partly by wading, gives one an excellent 

 idea of the extensive and profitable system of aquiculture 

 practised at Arcachon. 



Between neighbouring oyster pares, and surrounding the 

 " concessions " of the various proprietors, run lanes of water 

 about 4 metres wide. These give ready access to the pares, and 

 can be traversed by the long gondola-like boats of the par- 

 queurs. The lanes are bordered by rows of tall saplings with 

 bunches of twigs left on. These are called "pignons." They 

 keep waving in any slight breeze, and give a characteristic ap- 

 pearance to the scene. The oyster men declare that they are of 

 use in frightening away fish, and especially the voracious ray 

 Myliol'Otis, which might otherwise do great damage in the pre- 

 serves. Possible depredatioiis of another kind are guarded 

 against by the "pontons," or large barges, moored at the 

 corners of the pares in which the " gardes des pcches " live. 



Great numbers of the oysters bred and reared through their 

 early stages at Arcachon are sent to Marennes and La Trem- 

 blade, in the flat district on both sides of the estuary of the 

 Seudre, to be fattened in a /i;7V </V/eTa^f, and "greened" by 

 feeding upon the diatom Navicula fusifcrnns, var. ostreaiia. 

 Wide canals from the estuary lead the sea-water inland, and 

 supply the numerous " claires," which are merely shallow arti- 

 ficial ponds excavated in the clay and marly soil. In spring and 

 early summer the muddy floor of the claire undergoes a good 

 deal of preparation by digging, cleaning, draining, and exposure 

 to sun and air, in order that later on, when sea-water is re- 

 admitted, at first in small quantity, it may be in what has been 

 found by experience the most favourable condition for the 

 growth of the desired kinds of lower algse. These soon cover 

 the floor with a dense green growth, which the eleveurs recog- 

 nise as being of great importance to the nutrition of the oysters. 

 Samples of the growth which I collected from the bottoms of 

 several claires consisted of Ctadophora flaveicem and C. cxpaina, 

 along with Spiruliiia leniiiisima and a l.yiigi'ya and little tufts 

 of Calolltri.x, while a more detailed examination with the micro- 

 scope shows that these plants are teeming with small animals 

 and other forms of life, and nearly everything is covered with 

 innumerable diatoms. Probably the larger green algcc, thought 

 so much of by the eleveurs, are only of importance in oyster 

 culture in providing points of attachment and shelter or favour- 

 able environment for the microscopic forms of life, and especi- 

 ally for the diatoms. It is well known that diatoms form a most 

 important constituent of the food of oysters, and that the 

 greenish blue tint of the celebrated Marennes oysters is due to 

 the presence in the claires of enormous quantities of Na: icii'it 

 /iiii/o) ini>,v»r, cs/>rar:\i, upon which the oysters feed. This 

 form is found in our own fishery district in the estuary of the 

 Dee (and probably elsewhere), although not abundantly ; but it 

 is prubable that there are various other allied diatoms that 

 would do equally well for rearing and fattening oysters on, and 

 as a matter of fa':! the examination of the contents of an oyster's 

 stomach shows that the foo<l consists of a number of different 

 kinds of diatoms as well as other minute organisms. 



Altogether, all the evidence I was able to collect shows, I 

 think, that the bottom of a claire i^ teeming with microscopic 

 life, and that it is probably this rich feeding a/oni- which is 

 necessary in order to bring the oysters, in a very short period — 

 a few weeks usually, sometimes ten days or a fortnight is 

 sufiicicnt— to the desired condition of fatness and flavour. The 

 autumn and early winter months are said to be the best for 

 fattening and greening. 



I shall have to omit all reference to the industries at Pointe 



le Chapus, at the Island of Oleron, at La Rochelle, at Les 

 Sables d'Olonne, and at I-e Croisic — except a brief explanation 

 of the basins of " dcgorgement " seen at Le Chaous and else- 

 where. These are shallow tanks, high up on the beach, with 

 smooth bricked or tiled floors, so that they can be kept clean 

 and free from mud. Their purpose is to enable the oysters 

 taken fresh from the pares and claires, and which naturally have 

 some fine mud and food-matters of a decomposable nature cling- 

 ing to them, both externally and internally, to lie for a few 

 days in clean water, and so get rid of their impure mud and 

 excreta before being packed up and sent oft' on a journey. The 

 oysters also become accustomed in these basins, which can be 

 emptied and filled with water periodically, to close their shells 

 and stand prolonged exposure to air. 



I do not see that the French shores are, in any important 

 respects better fitted for shell-fish culture than some parts of 

 our own Lancashire and Cheshire coast.' The deposits, both 

 littoral and submarine, are, on the whole, much the same, the 

 fauna, both macroscopic and microscopic, is scarcely appre- 

 ciably richer, and although the temperature of the water is 

 decidedly higher in the south — probably on the average about 

 10° F. higher in summer — I do not think that that is an essen- 

 tial condition, so long as the winler temperature of our water 

 does not get too loiv. It would certainly be necessary, I think, 

 to keep our oysters completely submerged during the winter 

 months ; but there are several places in the estuaries of the 

 Dee and the Ribble, and in the Barrow Channel near Roe and 

 Peil Islands, where " littoral " cultivation in summer might be 

 combined with "bedding out" in winter*— somewhat as is done 

 at present with American oysters in the estuary of the Wyre, 

 near Fleetwood. As to the other conditions — of bottom, of water, 

 and of food, several places in the Barrow Channel and in the 

 Dee estuary seem to me to be well fitted for oyster culture. 



T 



NO. 13 I I, VOL. 51] 



ENDOWMENT FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 



AXD PUBLICATION? 



I. 



WENTY years ago Prof. Tyndall delivered in New York 

 and in other cities of this country a series of lectures upon 

 light. The last of the series was an impressive plea for a more 

 thorough prosecution of original research in pure science ; and 

 incidentally, for the need of endowments to maintain it. I was 

 fortunate in having the opportunity to listen to that remarkable 

 course of lectures, and to that plea for science. Its impression 

 has never left me. The impression was the deeper, because 

 Tyndall set upon it the seal of self-denial. Some 30,000 dols., ^ 

 nearly the entire net proceeds of his lectures in the United 

 States— money for which he undoubtedly had abundant use in 

 his own alTairs, or at least in the prosecution of researches in his 

 own country, and which by all precedent and the example 

 of other lecturers he would have taken with him — 

 this he has given to the science of this country, 

 endowing therewith, in 1885, three scholarships for the 

 prosecution of original research in physics, one under 

 the direction of Columbia College, one under Harvard, and a 

 third at the University of Pennsylvania. 



The truths uttered and the example set by this self-deiiying 

 master have already many times borne fruit. The late President 

 Barnard, of Columbia College, who was a warm supporter of 

 Prof. Tyndall when here, bequeathed to Columbia upon his 

 decease a few years since the sum of 10,000 dols. for the 

 endowment of another fellowship for the encouragement of 

 scientific research, upon substantially the same terms as those 

 of the Tyndall scholarships. In other parts of the country 

 there have been some other endowments for similar purposes. 

 In the last year Columbia h.as also received ion,ooo dols., the 

 munificent bequest of Mr. Da Costa, for the establishment of 

 the department of biology. Although this bequest is not 

 primarily for the prosecution of original research, it is not 

 restricted by hampering conditions, and will to some extent, it 

 is hoped, admit of a direct and continuous support of the highest 

 and most advanced studies. 



The appeal made by Tyndall has been often renewed by 



' This, being a report to the Lanc.-ishire Sea-Kisheries Committee, is only 

 concerned wilh localities within the Fishery Diitrict. 



- Addrets delivered by Mr. Addison Brown, .-it a meeting of the Scientific 

 Alliance of New Vork. (Reprinted from Smithsonian Kepoft, 1893.) 



