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oysters dredged from the deep-sea beds in the neighbourhood 
for use at Cancale, during the current season, had mounted 
up to little more than three million seven hundred thousand ; 
whereas twelve years ago, at the same period of the season, 
the total would be sixty millions ! " * The same authority states 
that Captain de Saumarez, of her Majesty's steamer Dasher, told 
him “that, a few years ago, when surveying between Jersey, 
Alderney, and the coast of France, he came upon a large bed 
of natural oysters lying in the bottom of the Channel, more 
than three miles in length, and of considerable breadth. The 
news soon spread, and in a very short time (such was the 
rapacity of the oyster dredgers) not an oyster was left to tell 
the tale." t Upon a question of this kind it is necessary to 
have evidence not only from ordinary observers, but from' 
those whose position enables their observations to be accurate. 
Hence, the following statement from so high an authority as 
Mr. Ffennel, the Government inspector of fisheries, is highly 
valuable. Mr. Ffennel asserts that “there was one place in 
Ireland, which some years ago gave employment to some two 
thousand people in the culture and collection of oysters. The 
beds there were worked to such an extent, that the mere 
freight in one week often amounted to £1,000 ; but so reck- 
lessly were the beds worked, that their entire produce at the 
present time did not amount to £300 per annum." 
In the presence of such facts, it cannot be denied that our 
oyster trade is declining. It is equally true that if something 
be not done, all our resources will be exhausted, and the oyster 
in a few years must be regarded as a thing of the past. Shall 
such things be ? Shall no steps be taken to ameliorate the 
condition of our oyster beds ? These are the questions which 
are now, almost for the first time, put before the English 
public. It must be confessed that in many particulars we are 
behind other nations, and certainly in nothing more than 
in pisciculture. Look, for instance, at what our Gallic neigh- 
bours have been doing with hand and brain to increase the 
supply of oysters, while we with mouth and stomach have 
been exerting ourselves to diminish it ! We are waking up 
to a sense of our position now, but the French mooted the 
question as early as 1845. M. Carbonel { was the vigilant 
sentry who first detected the approach of the enemy. In 
October, 1845, when reading his memoir before the Academy, 
he said : “ It is unquestionable that the oyster will disappear 
* “ Journal of the Society of Arts,” vol. XII., No. 600. t Ibid. 
X “ Sur l’Huitre des Cotes de France,” reprinted from the “ Magazin de 
Zoologie.” Paris, 1845. 
