40 
The various observations which have been published re- 
garding the place where the eggs are fertilized in the 
European oyster are very contradictory. 
In 1827 Home stated (Phil. Trans. 1827,) that the eggs are 
impregnated inside the ovaries ; but as his paper also states 
that the rotation of the ciliated embryo is caused by a para- 
sitic worm, it is doubtful whether the means at his command 
were adequate to the solution of the question. 
In the “ Report of the Commission appointed to Examine 
into the Methods of Oyster Culture in France and in the 
United Kingdom with a view to the Introduction of Improved 
Methods of Culture of the Oyster into Ireland, 1870,” J. G. 
Hart, Esq., one of the Commissioners, says, p. 10 : “ Artificial 
fecundation, such as is practiced with the Salmonidae, is im- 
possible, from the fact that fecundation takes place before the 
extrusion of the ova from the ovaries, and therefore we must 
conclude that with the oyster the utmost that can be done by 
so-called artificial breeding is not the procuring of artificial 
impregnation, but only the shepherding of the impregnated 
ova during infancy.” The five original figures which he gives, 
pp. 9 and 11, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, as well as his account of 
the early stages of the oyster, are so crude and indefinite as 
to throw great doubt on the value of his evidence. 
In a work entitled “ Guide Practique de l’Ostreicultur,” 
Prof. Felix Fraiche makes a similar statement, that since the 
eggs are fertilized within tne ovaries artificial fertilization is 
impossible, but his statement does not appear to be based 
upon observation. 
Eyton, who appears to be a thoroughly competent observer, 
states (History of the Oyster and Oyster Fisheries, by T. C. 
Eyton, F. L. S., F. Z. S. : London, 1S58, p. 21) that in a num- 
ber of oysters which he has opened and examined at various 
times, and from different places, embryos, at different stages 
of development, were present inside the ovaries as well as on 
the gills. There seems to be no reason for doubting his evi- 
dence, but it does not seem to be sufficient to show that the 
eggs are fertilized exclusively in the ovaries. 
Mobius, whose statements rest on careful observation, states 
