!88 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



is represented in Plate XVI I., lies in the neighbourhood of Baia and 

 Cumje. It forms one of the most interesting spots in that beautiful 

 bay. In the month of February, 1865, M. Figuier tells us he traversed 

 its celebrated coast, seated himself on the banks of the historical lake, 

 and tasted the produce of this curious manufacture of living beings, 

 whose origin dates from the Roman period. 



Lake Fusaro was in ancient times a place of evil report : Virgil 

 immortalised it as the mythological Acheron ; but its landscape had 



Fig. 172. — Artificial Oyster-banli. in Lake Fusaro. 



nothing of the sadness and desolation which accords with the sojourn 

 of the dead. It is a salt pond, shaded with a girdle of magnificent 

 trees. It is about a league in circumference, and about a fathom in 

 depth at its deepest part ; its bottom is muddy and black, like the rest 

 of this volcanic region. 



It will be understood, from what has been said, that the chief 

 obstacle to the reproduction of oysters is the absence of any solid body 

 to which the young spawn can attach itself, and the means of shelter 

 from animals which prey upon them. The fishermen living on the 

 shores of Lake Fusaro have long realised this, and provided against 

 it by warehousing, as it were, in the lake near the sea, the oysters 

 ready to discharge their spawn, while retaining the young generations 



