Instead of such an evident failure as this, he recommends oyster-spat collectors of two kinds, one consisting of extra thick split palings 4 ft. long by 8 in. wide, with a brick attached to each end to weigh them down, and at the same time to raise them off the ground.  Several of them on being raised for inspection, after three months, were found to have over 1,000 embryo oysters adhering to them.  The other form of spat collector he employs consists of cemented slates, arranged ridge-wise on light ti-tree frames, and in some localities these were found to be even more efficacious than the palings.

In the old country the same necessity for oyster culture is well recognised.  In an interesting address given not so long ago, Professor Huxley, after referring to the growing scarcity of the bivalve, expressed his belief that the only hope for the oyster consumer was first in oyster culture, and secondly in discovering a means of breeding oysters under such conditions that all the spat was safely deposited.  France has done more than any other country in the world in the artificial culture of the oyster.  Not many years ago the oyster fisheries there were in danger of absolute extinction—­a state of affairs brought about by reckless and unrestricted fishing, without any effort to provide for a re-supply.  Mainly through the efforts of M. Coste, the propagation of oysters was scientifically carried out, with a result that has even exceeded the marvellous.  According to a recent French official report, the Bay of Arcachon contained in the year 1807, 20 private PARCS, or district oyster beds.  In the year 1865 these had increased to the number of 297, with an output of 10,000,000 oysters.  In the year 1887, the area under cultivation in the same bay amounted to 15,000 acres, and produced 300,000,000 oysters.  In addition to this, a still later report attributes the present flourishing condition of this industry “to the steps primarily initiated by the Government, and to the necessity of upholding this success by continuing the same system of administrative supervision, together with the practical illustration in the Government model PARCS of the most perfected methods of oyster culture, for the benefit of private cultivators.”

And lastly, if we require further evidence in support of the necessity for ostreiculture, we have only to turn to America.  A falling off in the supply led to an inquiry into the cause by the United States Fish Commission.  Professor Goode, in his review of the work accomplished by this body, writes, inter Alia:—­“The important distinction between the extermination of a species and the destruction of a fishery should be noted.  In the case of fixed animals like the sponge, the mussel, and the oyster, the colonies or beds may be practically exterminated, exactly as a forest may be cut down.  The preservation of the oyster beds is a matter of vital importance to the United States, for oyster fishing unsupported