THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 313 



then the Corophium turns upon the molluscs and 

 fishes, which it attacks whether living or dead. 

 Through the whole of the summer these Crustaceans 

 remain upon the coast, but towards the end of 

 October they all disappear in one night, ready to 

 return the following year and resume their useful 

 labours of digging and delving.* 



Walton discovered on examining the poles which 

 supported his nets that they were covered with 

 mussel spawn, and that the Molluscs which were 

 thus produced in the open sea, and beyond the im- 

 mediate contact with the mud, were finer both as to 

 size and quality than those which were bred nearer 

 the shore. He then increased the number of his 

 poles, and after various attempts, constructed his 

 first artificial mussel-bed or bouchot. At the level of 

 the lowest tides, he drove into the mud stakes that 

 were strong enough to resist the force of the waves, 

 and placed them in two rows about a yard distant 

 from one another. This double line of poles formed 

 an angle, whose base was directed towards the shore 

 and whose apex pointed to the open sea. This palis- 

 sade was roughly fenced in with long branches, and 

 a narrow opening having been left at the extremity 

 of the angle, wicker-work cases were arranged in 

 such a manner as to stop any fishes that were being 

 carried back by the retreating tide. Walton had 

 thus combined in one a sort of fish-preserve with a 

 bed for the breeding of mussels. The merits of this 

 invention must have been at once appreciated, for it 



* Mcmoire sur la Corophie longicorne, by M. d'Orbigny, Journal 

 de Physique, 1821. 



