690 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



This discovery was received by the naturalists of the time 

 with contempt and ridicule ; so much so that Peyssonnel, dis- 

 gusted, retired into obscurity, leaving his manuscripts in the 

 Museum of Natural History in Paris, where they still remain, 

 unpublished. Before his death, however, in his retirement, he 

 had the satisfaction of seeing his views accepted, and some of 

 those who had most ridiculed them on their first presentation, 

 become the most enthusiastic and effective advocates of them. 



The gathering of shells, to be used as ornaments, and also as 

 the material for fancy work, is increasing very rapidly. The 

 illustration on tKe opposite page represents some of the chief 

 varieties which are valued highly for their exquisite shading and 

 brilliant coloring, which art cannot hope to surpass. 



Another fishery which may be fitly mentioned here is the 

 oyster fishery. There are several varieties of the oyster. 

 Those usually eaten in France are the common oyster (Ostrea 

 edulis), and the horse foot oyster (0. hippopus). The oysters 

 of the Mediterranean are the rose-colored oyster (0. rosacea), 

 and the milky oyster (0. lacteola), with the small and little 

 known crested oyster (0, instdta), and the folded oyster (0. 

 plicata). On the Corsican coast the oysters are called foliate 

 (Olamleosa). In France the Cancale and Ostend oysters are chiefly 

 noted. When the first of these has been fed for some time in 

 the parks or beds, and has assumed a greenish color, it is 

 known as the Narenna oyster, from the name of the park in 

 the Bay of Scudre. 



Natural oyster beds occur in every sea where the coast 

 affords the proper conditions with a^helving and not too rocky 

 bottom. In France the beds of Kochelle, Rochefort, the isles 

 of Re and Oleron, the bay of St. Brieuc, Cancale and Gran- 

 ville are the most famous. On the Danish coast there are 

 forty or fifty beds on the west coast of Schleswig, the best 

 lying between the small islands of Sylt, Amzon, Fohr, Pel- 

 worm and N^rdstrand. The oyster beds of England extend 



