FISH AND FISHERIES. 115 
million.* So that, as far as ova are concerned, there is no want of 
material, and the male sperma are of course still more numerous: all 
that is wanted is protection. With regard to.the methods by which this 
can be obtained, I condense the following from Bertram’s “‘ Harvest of 
the Sea” (p. 237), who states that the secret of there being only a holding- 
on place required for the spat of the oyster to insure an immensely 
increased supply was found by the French. Probably they were 
indebted in some degree to the methods pursued in England (Colne and 
Whitstable) for the idea. The plan was simple enough. Strong pillars 
of wood were driven into the mud and sand, arms were added, the whole 
was interlaced with branches of trees, and various boughs were hung over 
beds on ropes and chains, whilst others were sunk by weights in the 
water. A few boat-loads of oysters being laid down, the spat easily 
found a home In 1850 the oyster beds of France were nearly 
exhausted. St. Brieuc, Rochelle, Marennes, and Rochefort could no 
longer supply the market. Oyster culture was begun at the Island of 
Ré where there are few trees, but stones and tiles were largely used as 
collectors for the oyster spat. "The work was begun in 1858, and ten 
years afterwards there were upwards of 4,000 “ pares” and “‘claires” as 
they are called, constructed on the foreshores of the island. The 
system was inaugurated by a stonemason, named Beuf. He enclosed a 
portion of the foreshore of the island,. about 30 yards square, with a 
wall of rough stones about 18 inches high, and in this enclosure or pare 
he laid down a few bushels of growing oysters.* In the course of a year 
he was able to dispose of about £6 worth of oysters. Elated with this 
success he doubled the size of his enclosure, and more than doubled his 
profits, without in any way encroaching on his breeding stock. The 
news of this success induced the French Government to cede portions of 
the shore to be used as oyster parcs by labourers, who in return paid a 
.nominal rental of a franc a week. The first duty that had to be 
performed was to clear off the mud, which is fatal to young oysters, and 
which abounded in that locality. After this, rocks had to be blasted 
to obtain stones for the parc walls; then these had to be built, and 
the pares stocked with breeding oysters. In a short time an incredible 
number of oysters was gathered on shores which a few years ago were of . 
no value.t ‘So that this branch of industry now realizes an extraordi- 
nary revenue, and spreads comfort’ amongst families which were 
formerly in a state of comparative indigence. A series of enormous 
and unproductive mud banks, occupying a stretch of shore about 4 
leagues in length, are now so transformed and the whole place so 
changed as to appear to be the work of a miracle. . 
Dr. Kemmerer, of St. Martin’s, Island of Ré, has invented a tile 
which he covers with some kind of composition that can, when occasion 
requires, be peeled off, and this plan is useful for the transference of the 
oyster from the collecting pare to the fattening claire. 
* ‘Development of the American Oyster,” by Dr. W. K. Brooks, p.15. Printed 
as an Appendix to the Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of Maryland, 
January, 1880, Annapolis, State Printers, 1880. 
+ The remainder of this extract is from the Report of the Oyster Culture 
Commission, Sydney, 1877, p. 10, &c. Itis abridged from Bertram’s ‘‘ Harvest of 
the Sea,” to which I have added a few facts here and there of later date, taken 
principally from Simmond’s ‘‘Commercial Products of the Sea.” 
