BIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 393 
Tréquiers were distributed in ten longitudinal lines on tiles, frag- 
ments of pottery, and valves of shells. At the end of eight months 
the progress of the beds was tested, and the dredge in a few 
minutes brought up 2,000 oysters fit for the table, while two | 
fascines drawn up at random contained nearly 20,000, from one to | 
‘two inches in diameter. Two of these fascines exposed to public 
view at Béni and Patrieux excited the astonishment of the maritime 
population. 
This result encouraged M. Coste to pursue his experiments upon 
a greater scale; and he now proposed to bring the whole littoral under 
a regulated system of oyster culture. In the roads of Toulon and in 
Lake Thau, which touches this port, the same system was put in force 
by the Administration of Marine as had already been done in the Bay 
of Arcachon and in the Isle of Ré. In these localities oyster culture 
assumed gigantic proportions. Associations were formed for the 
purpose of prosecuting them, and forming oyster-parks. 
These exertions roused the curiosity of foreign nations. Van 
Beneden, the distinguished Professor of Natural History at Louvain, 
and M. Eschrecht of Copenhagen, visited France, to study the 
arrangements for oyster culture. M. Coste demonstrated that parks 
could be established on all places visited by the tide; and, under his 
advice, the Bay of Arcachon is now transformed into a vast field of 
production, which increases every day, giving the happiest presages 
of an abundant harvest. Already 1,200 capitalists, associated 
with a similar number of fishermen, have caused a surface of 988 
acres, which is exposed at low water, to be planted with oysters. In 
this bay the State has organised two model farms for experimental 
purposes, in which tiles, fascines, and valves of shells are laid down, 
with other appliances, to which the young oysters may attach them- 
selves. These expedients have been so successful, that the park, © 
which has cost about £114, is now estimated to be worth about 
£8,000 in money, with a total of 5,000,000 oysters, large and small. 
The Isle of Ré, which was originally surrounded by a muddy bottom 
ill adapted for oyster culture, has been totally changed, so that in two 
years four leagues of foreshore have been turned into a rich and 
profitable oyster-bed; 1,200 parks are in full activity, and 2,000 
others are in course of construction, the whole forming a complete 
girdle round the island. 
Every one has heard of the green oysters of Marennes, the 
preservation, amelioration, and ripening of these oysters, so to speak, 
representing a very considerable branch of industry in France. In 
order to give the reader some idea of its importance, we shall give 
