NOTES AND QUERIES. 379 



far developed us to be ready to fasten themselves on a rock and to live 

 independently. It follows, of course, that the continued existence of the 

 parent is indispensable to the life of the young Oyster, and that Oysters of 

 this particular species cannot be artificially bred. It does not follow, how- 

 ever, though the inference was hastily drawn, that all Oysters are of the 

 same unaccommodating nature. If Oysters could be found as careless of 

 their offspring as the Salmon, the Herring, or the Mackerel, it would not 

 be difficult to increase the supply by collecting and cultivating the eggs. 

 This discovery has been made by Prof. Brooks, of the John Hopkins 

 University at Baltimore, by means of the marine laboratory attached to 

 that institution. European visitors to the United States are agreed that 

 the Baltimore Oyster is the best in the world, and Prof. Brooks°has ascer- 

 tained that in this particular Oyster, and, indeed, in the American Oyster 

 generally, the sexes are separate, and that the eggs, instead of being hatched 

 inside the parent shell, are thrown out into the water in immense nuiirbers, 

 and are then fertilized and developed without further assistance from the 

 parents. This is a scientific fact first discovered in a Marine Biological 

 Laboratory, and its industrial and commercial bearings are manifest. Prof. 

 Brooks was not so successful as Thales, however; he did not himself make 

 a fortune out of his discovery. He succeeded in showing the possibility of 

 fertilizing the eggs artificially, and of rearing the young Oysters until after 

 they had acquired their shells; but he failed to keep them alive until they 

 were able to take care of themselves. The next step in practical discovery 

 was taken by Lieut. Winslow, of the United States Navy, who had followed 

 the experiments of Prof. Brooks, and being afterwards stationed at Cadiz 

 repeated the experiments with Portuguese Oysters, and found that they 

 also exhibited habits of breeding identical with those of the American Oyster. 

 It appears, moreover, that a French savant, M. Bouchon-Brandely, the 

 Secretary of the College de France, was encouraged to similar experiments 

 by the observations of Prof. Brooks, and that, having reached the same 

 conclusions as Lieut. Winslow, though quite independently of that officer, 

 as to the breeding habits of the Portuguese Oyster, he has overcome the 

 practical difficulties, and has succeeded in producing Oysters of commercial 

 value from eggs artificially impregnated. Similar results have since been 

 obtained by Mr. Ryder, in Maryland, so that the artificial breeding of Oysters 

 may now be regarded as a practical undertaking on both sides of the 

 Atlantic. It would be difficult to give a more satisfactory demonstration 

 of the practical value of marine biological research. The commercial im- 

 portance of the discovery of Prof. Brooks and M. Bouchon-Brandely is 

 obviously immense, and it opens up a prospect of unlimited extent to the 

 whole gastronomical world. The possible extinction of the unaccommodating 

 " native " may now be regarded with comparative equanimity. Its marsupial 

 habits, 60 to speak, unfit it for the struggle for existence. Ita parental 



