366 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Before passing from Italy mention should be made of the oyster park in Naples 
near the Gastello del Ovo, and the Santa Lnccia. The former, checquered off with 
stakes and ropes, suggests a diminutive Tareute. Neapolitan oysters, however, have 
been brought to thrive where the water is not of the purest, aud are therefore regarded 
with suspicion. Several cases of typhoid fever are recorded that appear to have been 
traced to this source. 
OYSTER-CULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 
Two difficulties have stood in the way of developing oyster-culture in Spain. An 
extended seacoast has allowed local demand to be satisfied without recourse to arti- 
ficial methods, and inconveniences in the matter of transportation into the interior of 
the country have prevented or retarded the development of regions where culture 
would naturally have become profitable. There is little in the way of technical devices 
to be learned from the study of the Spanish oyster-production, and in the present con- 
nection it will be of little value to discuss the matter at length. The chief localities 
which carry on production for the market of Madrid are Santander and Coruna. 
Both are on the northern coast, the latter near the northeastern part of the peninsula 
in the region of Gape Finisterre. At these points oyster-culture has been introduced 
after the French method. 
The oyster industry in Spain is undergoing the same evolution that it has had in 
France. The northern coast, in its deep cut and rock-built bays, has provided shelter 
for a large number of small, but very rich natural oyster banks. Such, for example, 
was that of San Nicolas de Neda, about 20 miles from Coruna, which was recorded in 
1870 as having an extent of 2 square miles, or that of San Martin de Noya, 50 miles 
from Coruna, smaller, but exceedingly rich. These have been little protected by 
legislative measures and have been ruthlessly dredged, even by those who should 
have been their guardians. Their condition has finally become such that the market 
price of the oyster has become high enough (advancing within twenty years from 2 
cents to $2 per 100) to insure the profitableness of artificial culture. The only reason, 
it is said, why the natural banks have not been entirely exterminated has been the 
rocky nature of the bays, which has hindered dredging. The demand for oysters in 
the French ports seems to have been the first incentive to overdredging. 
The present need of Spanish oyster-culture is that of quick and low-priced trans- 
portation, which will place fresh oysters in the city markets at a not unreasonable 
price. By this means artificial culture will become more profitable. Spain is not 
wanting in industrial establishments. One, for example, in the bay of Lloregat, is 
well appointed and of considerable interest; unique, certainly, in making use of a 
windmill to renew the water of its high ponds. At Santander there is an establish- 
ment of the type of Arcachon, where case culture is carried on; in a sheltered part 
of the harbor the cases are arranged in rows and are rarely exposed, even at low tide; 
inclosures are not employed, and the cases are stout in build, supported about a yard 
from the bottom; growth is said to be exceptionally rapid and the oysters are usually 
marketed at the end of the second season. A similar establishment, about 20 miles 
to the eastward, has been quite successful in production. The intense saltness of the 
water,* sp. gr. 1.027 to 1.028 (68° F.), doubtless tends to render general production 
unprofitable, and the absence of thrifty beds of spawning oysters in the neighborhood 
U. S. F. C. Bulletin, 1890, ]>. 384. 
