170 UTILIZATION OF MINUTE LIFE. 



terranean and on the coasts of the Atlantic, will be 

 consulted with profit by all oyster-breeders. 



On the western coast of France, where the water 

 is somewhat deep, it was found that the oyster 

 requires five years to arrive at its complete growth, 

 whilst in shallow water two years are amply 

 sufficient. 



A model plan for breeding oysters may be seen 

 in the lake of Fusaro, in Italy, where mussels and 

 oysters are cultivated with much success where 

 almost the entire quantity of spawn is developed with- 

 out loss. That oysters can be transported from one 

 coast to another, and that oyster-beds can be arti- 

 ficially produced on coasts which are deprived of 

 them, was proved by an Englishman more than a 

 hundred years ago. 



Guided by this knowledge and his own re- 

 searches, M. Coste lately proposed to the French 

 Government to form a chain of oyster-beds all 

 along the western coasts of France. Several beds 

 exist there at present, but most of them are falling 

 to decay, and others are completely exhausted. 

 M. Coste has already commenced operations. He 

 gets fresh oysters for propagation from the open 

 sea; he turns to advantage those that are rejected 

 by the trade > and, lastly, he collects the myriads 

 of embryo oysters which, at each spawning season, 

 issue from the valves of the oyster, and which are 



