ACEPHALOUS JIOLLUSCS. 



Ills schemes into execution. Tlien he planted a long 

 range of piles along the low marshy shore, each pair 

 heing arranged like the two sides of the letter V, with 

 the front of the letter towards the sea, and either limh 

 diverging at an angle of forty-five degrees. These 

 posts were separated by intervals of about tliree feet ; 

 each was twelve feet in length, six feet being above 

 water, and they were so interlaced with branches 

 watlled together as to resemble continuous hurdles." 

 Each hurdle, if we may so call it — the French name 

 is houchul — was about two hundred yards in length. 

 This apparatus intercepted the spat, or spawn, that 

 would otherwise have been carried out to sea, and to a 

 great extent wasted. Walton soon formed a magnifi- 

 eent mussel f;\rm, but he did not abandon his isolated 

 piles; which, being witiiout fascines or branches, and 

 always submerged, arrested the spat as it was emitted 

 from the parent mussels. 



The advantages of mytiliculture soon became ap- 

 parent to Walton's neighbours, and his system was 

 adopted by (me after another, until the whole shore of 

 the bay was covered with boiichots; and to the present 

 day this curious but useful industry flourishes in the 

 same locality. 



The hurdles now form a perfect forest. About two 

 hundred and thirty thousand piles support a hundred 

 and twenty-five thousand fascines, which bend, through- 

 out the year, under a harvest that a squadron of ships- 

 of-the-line would be unable to float. There are about 

 live hundred bouchots in the bay, each measuring from 

 two hundred to two hundred and fifty yards in length. 



The isolated piles are only uncovered at spring- 

 tides. In the months of February and March the spat 

 collected on them scarcely equals in size a grain of 

 linseed. By the month of May it has enlarged to the 

 dimensions of a split pea. In July it is as big as a 

 small haricot bean, and consequently, is fit for trans- 

 plantation. In this month the bouchotiers, as the men 

 engaged in this culture are called, launch their punts, 

 and proceed to the part of the bay where these piles 

 are planted. They then detach with a hook the 

 accumulated clusters of the young mussels, which they 

 collect in baskets, and carry to their bouchots ; the 

 said bouchots being of four diflerent heights, accom- 

 modating the four stages of the mussel's growth. 



In the first stage it cannot endure atmospheric 

 influences, and remains almost constantly under water. 

 As it beoomcB hardier it is removed to the second 

 stage, the third, and finally, when able to remain for 

 hours exposed to the air, to the fourth stage, or amont, 

 which continue above water in all tides. Here they 

 rest until fit for market, which usually happens after ten 

 or twelve months of education on the more advanced 

 bouchots. 



From Julj' to January the mussel trade is in full 

 operation, and the flesh in perfection. From February 

 to April is the close season, and the flesh is then poor 

 and leathery. 



A well-stocked bouchot furnishes annually, according 

 to the length of its wings, from four to five hundred 

 charges, each charge weighing upwards of three hun- 

 dred pounds, and selling in the market for about five 

 francs, or ,3s. 9(/. The harvest reaped from a single 



bouchot is therefore worth £100 (being in weight a 

 hundred and thirty to a hundred and fifty thousand 

 pounds avoirdupois). The total mussel fishing in the 

 Bay of Aiguillon may consequently be valued at 

 £480,000 to £500,000 a year— a fact showing that 

 pisciculture, under proper conditions, is capable of 

 yielding an extraordinary large return for the capital 

 and labour laid out upon it. 



The last section of acephalous molluscs includes the 

 numerous families of the Solens, Pholades, and Teredos 

 (the Acephales renferme of Cuvier). These are the 

 borers or miners of the watery world, which excavate 

 for themselves, by unceasing labour, a habitation in the 

 solid rock or hardest timber. 



The Svlcn, or razor-fish, a genus of lamellibranchiate 

 molluscs, is a type of the family Sokmdcc, and derives 

 its English name from its long narrow shell, open at 

 both ends, and not unlike the handle of a common 

 razor. In some of the tropical species the shell is of 

 great beauty. The Solens are found in every sea, 

 except within the Polar circle, and burrow in the sand ; 

 working a hole perpendicularly, sometimes to the depth 

 of two feet. After it is once made they never quit it, 

 but ascend or descend at need by means of their foot, 

 which is capable of alternate elongation and contraction. 

 They are used as food, and also as bait. The fisher- 

 men catch them with a peculiar hooked iron instru- 

 ment ; or by dropping a quantity of salt into the mouth 

 of the hole. This attracts them to the surface ; but 

 they must be immediately seized, or they will disappear 

 again with surprising quickness. 



The shell is thin, transparent, and bivalve, with 

 parallel edges, and truncated at both extremities. The 

 tints are violet, a greyish blue, and rose ; the valves 

 slightly covered with a greenish-brown epidermis. 

 The animal itself has the form of an elongated cylinder, 

 with its mantle closed throughout its entire length ; 

 and only opened at one end for the admission of food, 

 and at the other for the passage of a tube consisting of 

 a couple of syphons united together. 



One of the largest British species is the Solen siliqua, 

 which measures about eight inches in length and one 

 in breadth, and is perfectly straight. 



The Solen ensis, another British species, is sabre- 

 shaped ; Solen rngina resembles in form a sword 

 .sheathed ; Solen cyanea is slightly rounded at both ends. 



THE OYSTER. 



Societies for the protection of animals bestow re- 

 wards, says a recent French writer, on those sympa- 

 thizing persons who have surrounded the old age of 

 dogs and horses with affectionate cares. They preach 

 the duty of good treatment and humane conduct 

 towards all the quadrupeds, and even towards birds, 

 and severely censure — nay, visit with legal penalties — 

 the hardened men who beat, wound, and torture them. 

 In their extreme zeal, they have of late attempted to 

 prohibit our men of science, in the anatomical schools 

 and veterinary colleges, from makir)g operations and 

 performing experiments on living animals. 



