388 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
is represented in PLATE XVIL, lies in the neighbourhood of Baia and 
Cumez. It fornis 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-bank 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 
