THE ANNALS 
MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
[FIFTH SERIES. ] 
No. 3. MARCH 1878. 

XXIL.—On the Geographical Distribution of the Common 
Oyster. By G. WINTHER*. 
Apart from the oysters of the Mediterranean, which are here 
left out of consideration, the oyster is found along the coasts of 
the Bay of Biscay, from Vigo in Spain to Finisterre in France, 
and thence along the coasts of the Channel, the Irish, 
Scotch, and English seaboards as far as the Shetland Islands. 
The species reappears at Heligoland, on the western coast of 
Slesvig, in the Limfjord, the Aalbek Bay in the Kattegat 
(near Frederikshavn or Fladstrand), and along the eastern 
shore of Jutland, as far as the fjord of Horsens, whilst on the 
coast of the Scandinavian peninsula oysters are found from a 
point south of Gothenborg along the Swedish and Norwegian 
coasts towards the bay of Christiania, and again on the south 
and west coast of Norway as far as the island of Trinen, 
near the polar circle. The Feroes and Iceland possess no 
oysters; and it is doubtful whether the American oyster is of 
the same species as that of Europe. In spite of its wide 
range northwards, the oyster must be regarded as a southern 
species, being most fully developed in the Channel and south 
of the Channel. 
If now we look for peculiarities common to the whole of 
this portion of the west coast of Europe which is inhabited 
by the oyster, we meet with one phenomenon which exercises 
* Abstract of a paper on the culture of oysters in Denmark, in 
‘ Nordisk Tidsskrift for Fiskeri’ (Copenhagen, 1876). 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. i. is 
