OYSTEE AND MUSSEL REPOET. 133 



bouchot system of mussel culture fully at the end of the 

 section on the Bay of Aiguillon (p. 121) . Expressed briefly, 

 my opinion is that where mussels are now grown success- 

 fully on the bed system the best we can do is to farm 

 these beds carefully, and it would be useless to erect 

 bouchots, except perhaps on the seaward side for the 

 purpose of collecting more spat ; but in places where from 

 local conditions beds cannot be formed and where we know 

 that there are plenty of embryonic mussels in the water, 

 as evidenced by the quantities of young mussels that 

 settle down on any post, drain pipe, or other occasional 

 submerged object, it is highly probable that a system of 

 bouchots would attract abundance of spat, and there is no 

 reason to think that the mussels could not be reared as 

 successfully on bouchots here as they are in France. I 

 would recommend then, that in some such spot in one of 

 our estuaries a set of bouchots should be established on a 

 small scale. Such an experiment is obviously the only 

 way of settling definitely whether or not the French 

 method would be a practical success on the Lancashire 

 coasts. 



I need scarcely say that I have made no attempt to 

 abbreviate this lengthy report as I feel that it is most 

 important in a practical question of this nature that every 

 fact and every opinion which is at all likely to be of value 

 should be fully stated and carefully considered. I may 

 say now in conclusion, as Professor Huxley said in his 

 Royal Institution lecture in 1883, "I for my part believe 

 that the only hope for the oyster consumer lies first in 

 oyster culture, and secondly in discovering a means of 

 breeding oysters under such conditions that the spat shall 

 be safely deposited. And I have no doubt that when 

 those who undertake the business are provided with a 

 proper knowledge of the conditions under which they have 

 to work both these objects will be attained." 



