Milford chronicle., 1883-11-09
SCIENCE AND THE OYSTER.
Some Interesting Experiments with the
Bivalve-Artiicial Culture.
[From the PhiIndelphia Record. ]

a great economic value, attracted the at
/, tention of scientific men of all countries,
J and especially in this country have
r many successful experiments been made
g Professor Brooks, of the John Hopkins
University, made the first successful at
! tempt in the artificial impregnation Of
the eggs of the oyster. A single oyster
lays about two millions of yellow eggs,
which are found in the gills of the pa
rent They soon commence to move
about by means of delicate motile fila
ments that almost cover them, and then
are Matched and called fry. They are
now Independent swimming crea-
lures, but shortly cease to rove about and
attach themselves to the bottom, the
shell, one-eighth of an inch in diameter,
being easily discernible. At the end of
the first year they reproduce, but do not
attain their perfect size for three years.
The incubation of oyster eggs is the
great business of the future, and in few
years, probably, the dealer can go TO a
hatchery and order 500, 100000 sprat,
more or less. The present difficulty is
not in the fertilization but in keeping
the young alive, and to this end expert
ments are being made in various parts of
the world.
Another important question affecting
the flavor and, consequently, the sale of
the oyster is its food. Every epicure
knows the difference between Blue
Points, Shrewsbury and Virginia oysters.
and the supposition is that their food is
the cause of the difference. Professor
Leidy, President of the Philadelphia
Academy Of Science, says that the oys-
ter, probably, naturally feeds upon the
zoospores of certain alge, such as
those of the sea cabbage (UgUa IatiSsi-
MAJ. This, in his opinion, might {
give the animals the green color /
that they often possess, particularly in
the soft parts. So many oysters have 1
been rejected by buyers who were afraid
of the green tint that the matter has '
been investigated by two French natural
lists, who took perfectly white oysters q
and fed them upon water containing an I
abundance of a green microscopic plant e
N.arjcUla Ostrearja), and they assumed t
5he green, coppery hue that was sup i
posed to be poisonous. Oysters are sup
posed also to contain the green coloring t
natter of plants called chlorophyl, found Il
n number Of animals. The most care
I'll tests were made chemically with the is
pectroscope and otherwise by various h
cientific men, and in no case was the a,
,reen color traced to metallic matter or ii
ound in any way poisonous. h
els it true, asked the shippers COM g
'anion, ''that star fish roll on oyster
'eds ?" 81 can't swear to it, - was the IL
eply, ''but among istermen it's gen &C
raj belief that sea stars get together in
lunches of four or five hundred and let GO
he sea or ground swell roll 'em up shore b,
nto the beds, where they break up and I'll
o for the listers. They kill thousands IL
bushels of 'em every year. The way m
ley work is to close over the shell and
lrn their stomachs inside out and suck Or
ne critter right in. They're one Of the mi
orst enemies the listers have. It's as ev
)nishin'," he continued "the number alb
eggs listers lays and how few grows fal
p. l heard gentleman say that out of tht
900 listers about 45O lays eggs, and say he
lch laid 100000 we'd have forty odd he
illion young. But he said, on an aver tic
se, only 400 or so of these grew to per-
ct size, SO for every lister as is eat over liza
OOO,0 900 gifts killed.
Professor Mobins says the productive toc
'ss of the oyster IS 7,OOO,O 900 times ''''
eater than thatof man, but its capacity
maturs $40 times less. The European
ster is far below its American cousin.
d about England extremely rare. In
20 a small bed was discovered at the the
1uth of the Thames, near Whitestable. tina
out sixty feet long and twenty wide. thi
d within forty-eight hours seventy-fve 81
ssels were anchored over the spot. abl
e bed is now defunct. The beds of ma
ncale, on the Normandy coast, are vet to
h. though the following figures show wh'
same decline; In 1912 they yielded one
900, 900; in 1859 the number was only beil
900, 900; in 1861, 9,OOO 900; in 1868, you
100, 600, and in 1866, 10000 A and
Re for the artificial culture of oysters tall
ept over Europe several years ago, sing
'moted principally by Professor Coste, reg
Paris. In the spring of 1858 he dis cou
)uted in the bay of st. Brieux shells you
heavy fagots over space of 1000 ann