354 Recreations in Natural History. 



latcd by means of oil applied to those parts of it which were 

 not intended to be covered. The investigations showed that 

 on an average two of these larvaa can produce a square inch of 

 silk, and when employed in great numbers their produce is 

 astonishing. M. Habenstreet succeeded thus in manufacturing 

 an air-balloon about four feet in height, one or two shawls, and 

 a complete dress with sleeves, without any seams. The tissue 

 thus curiously produced resembled the lightest gauze, which it 

 surpassed in fineness. We are told that the Queen of Bavaria 

 once wore a robe of this description over her court dress." 



Leaving the insect department of Dr. Phipson's work we 

 pass to the chapters on Mollusca, and hope that the repetition 

 in his pages of the accounts of what the French are doing will 

 stimulate exertions to add to the quantity of food produced by 

 our shores. Artificial fish breeding should be supplemented 

 by similar methods of increasing edible mollusks and crusta- 

 ceans. Nothing can be simpler than M. Coste's plan on the 

 coasts of France. In Dr. Phipson's words, " he gets fresh 

 oysters for propagation from the open sea ; he turns to advan- 

 tage those which are rejected by the trade; and lastly, he 

 collects the myriads of embryo oysters which at each spawning- 

 season issue from the valves of the oyster, and which are now 

 lost to commerce for want of some contrivance to prevent their 

 escape and inevitable destruction." 



Out of two millions of young produced by a single oyster, 

 only ten or twelve attach themselves to the parent shell, and 

 to save the mass of spawn M. Costo employs a very simple 

 plan, of which wo annex a sketch, borrowed from Dr. Phipson's 

 work (Fig. 20). So easy is the artificial cultivation of the oyster 



I'n;. 20. — Bundle or pacioots fob rnorAOATiNO oysteus, according: to 



M. COSTE'S BYSTJiM. 



that "about five-and-twenty thousand acres of coast maybe 

 brought into fill! bearing in three years, at an annual expense 

 not exceeding £400." The young oysters attach themselves to 

 the fascines, and at & suitable age aro transported to a zono 

 of t be right depth. 



Zoologically speaking we ought to have noticed tho lobster 



