THE ECONOMIC MOLLUSCA OF ACADIA. 
51 
worth over $13,000,000 annually,* more than three times the 
value of the Cod-fishery. By far the greater portion of this 
is from natural beds, eighty per cent coming from Chesapeake 
Bay, They are exported to Canada and to Europe. There is- 
but little in the way of Oyster-culture. 
In France, elaborate systems of culture prevail, and natural 
beds are also extensive; the total yield is about 18,000,000' 
francs per year. The total yield from the beds of Great 
Britain is estimated at from £1,000,000 to £2,000,000 worth 
per year. Holland, Germany, Italy and other European 
countries also have their beds, but their production is of less- 
value. The distribution of the common European Oyster 
( Ostrea edulis), seems to correspond pretty closely with the 
limits of those shores on which is felt the influence of the 
Gulf Stream, 
On the shores of Acadia, the Oyster has probably existed 
much longer than man. No doubt the Indians have used it 
from very ancient times. We are not able to find that lists of 
the shells of any of the Indian shell heaps f which must exist 
on our North Shore have ever been published, but they will 
surely be found to contain many of the shells of this species. J; 
A single specimen was found in a shell-heap ten miles east of 
Halifax, and they are found in greatest abundance in the 
shell-heaps of Casco Bay, Maine, though the Oyster is now 
extinct there. 
*It has been estimated much higher than this; by one good authority at mor& 
than twice as much. 
tMr. A. Leith Adams, in his “Field and Forest Rambles,” p. 35, says that he 
examined shell-heaps on the islands in the Bay of Fundy and on the St. Croix River, 
and in them occurred the Quahog and the Oyster. Other observers who have 
examined these shell-heaps much more carefully than Mr. Adams had done, have 
seen no trace of either Quahog or Oyster. Mr. Adams’ error is very unfortunate; 
other writers have quoted and been led to wrong conclusions by him. 
X Denys seems to imply this. He says, referring to the region about St. George’s 
Bay and the Gut of Canso, “ there are found an abundance of good and very large 
Oysters, and of Mussels, still larger; and also an abundance of Shell-fish of all kinds 
good to eat, which are the most important means of subsistence of the savages 
during the spring.” 
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