120 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



through the interior. I visited St. Pierre near the west 

 side and then Boyardville on the north, and was much 

 struck by the admirable way in which by this system of 

 artificial irrigation great tracts of what would otherwise 

 probably be waste swampy land are made good use of. 

 Some of such claires, canals and salt pans are shown in 

 PI. Ill, fig. 3. I found the canal at Boyardville on July 7th 

 to be 70°F. with a specific gravity of 1*023 ; while on the 

 same da}^ at 11 a.m. and in the open sea, half way between 

 the islands of Oleron and Be, the temperature was 72°F. 

 and the specific gravity 1*025. On that same day the 

 temperature of the sea at Port Erin in the Isle of Man 

 was 60° F., at 10 a.m., and the following day at 3 p.m. 

 it was 68°F., the highest temperature we have registered 

 in the open sea at Port Erin this summer — the shore 

 pools often become considerably warmer, e.g., 76°F. 



La Bochelle. 



The shores in the neighbourhood of Bochelle are in 

 part limestone, in some places very much broken up so as 

 to be merely masses of separate stones, and in part a fine 

 mud. On the rocks and stones are many small "natural" 

 oysters which are collected by the people at low tide. 

 Those I tasted were of poor quality and saltish in flavour. 



I found the temperature of the sea near Bochelle to be 

 82° F., the highest temperature I met with except on the 

 pares at Arcachon. In the fish market at Bochelle I saw 

 very small immature soles and plaice exposed for sale in 

 quantities ; also mussels which were small, from 1J to 1J 

 inches in length, but very good ; and also cuttlefishes and 

 various kinds of crabs. 



I had intended going next to the Island of Be, but 

 heard at Bochelle that it would scarcely be worth while, 

 so I decided to visit the mussel bouchots in the Bay of 

 Aiguillon. 







