122 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the aeon faces the bow, grasps the sides about the middle 

 firmly with both hands, rests his left knee on the floor of 

 the boat, and putting his right leg (encased in a long sea 

 boot) over the side he plunges it into the mud and pushes 

 the boat onward. He is able to propel it at a great rate 

 over the soft mud, and when he gets to a channel of water 

 where the aeon floats he works with paddle or pole until 

 he again reaches mud and is able to use his foot. 



There is also a larger kind of boat in use. It is known 

 simply as "bateau plat" and is used to transport large 

 quantities of mussels. (See PI. Ill, fig. 1.). 



Originally the bouchots formed V shaped figures ; but 

 now the poles, which are trunks of small trees about 12 

 ft. long and 6 or 9 inches in diameter, are placed about 2 

 ft. apart in parallel rows at right angles to the shore and 

 are driven for several feet into the mud. The rows are 

 about 30 yards apart, and each has several hundred posts. 



The bouchots have been increased greatly since the time 

 of Walton, and now extend for miles along the coast, 

 chiefly in the neighbourhood of the villages of Esnandes, 

 Charron, and Marsilly. It was Charron that I visited. 

 The rows of stakes or poles are placed now in at least five 

 zones of which the outermost or furthest from land (it 

 may be 3 miles or so from highwater mark) is called 

 "bouchots d' aval," the next is "bouchots batisse," the 

 next "bouchots du bas " then "bouchots batards " and 

 finally the row nearest the land is " bouchots d' amont " 

 but each of these named kinds may really include several 

 sets of bouchots. Each of these sets is composed of the 

 above mentioned long lines of posts driven into the mud, 

 in some cases — the bouchot d'aval — plain and in other 

 cases interlaced with flexible branches and twigs placed 

 a few inches apart and known as " clayonnage." There 

 is a space at the bottom of the poles free from clayonnage 



