ASTREA EDULIS, OR COMMON OYSTER. 161 



in infant oysters as the apparatus of the other 

 oyster farms. The Society of Acclimation intend 

 to establish farms on the shores of the Mediterra- 

 nean, wherever their conformation appears to be 

 favorable ; as the oysters raised in. that great 

 inland sea are found to possess a specially delecta- 

 ble flavour, and are superior to all others in deli- 

 cacy of texture, never becoming tough except 

 when, through extreme old age, they attain a size 

 which wins for them the contemptuous soubriquet 

 of " horse-hoofs." 



The Belgian and Danish Governments have 

 been the earliest to interest themselves practi- 

 cally in the question of pisciculture ; and have 

 delegated the first, a Professor of the University 

 of Louvain, the second, a Professor of the Univer- 

 sity of Copenhagen, to study the details of the new 

 science, under the auspices of M. Coste, with a 

 view to its introduction among the fishing popula- 

 tion of their respective shores. 



The usual method of taking oysters is with the 

 dredge which is used in deep water* and chiefly 

 during cold weather, when various kinds of shell-fish 

 are captured. We have to thank the dredge for Mr. 



* See article " Apparatus." 



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