nsisting of numberless granules held together by a sort of slime. The whole is known as " white spat," and the num- berless granules are really the oyster eggs. Slowly and slowly the interior of the eggs assumes a darkish hue, tinging the whole mass so much that it is then termed " black spat." Within the space of a fortnight the mass of " black spat " breaks up, and the young oyster is set free. S. 1003. K 146 THE ART Of living IN AUSTRALIA. Mr. Frank Buckland has been fortunate enough to actually see this taking place. The oyster appears to await its opportunity, it stealthily opens its shell, and a lot of spat looking like a dense cloud is ejected. After a minute or two another cloud appears, and this is continually repeated till the performance is concluded. Myriads of young oysters thus liberated from parental control now enter upon the free swimming or locomotive stage of their existence. That is to say they remain near the surface of the sea, although incessantly moving in every direction. After a variable time, however, they suddenly descend and attach themselves to any suitable substance, on which they at once become distinctly visible in the form of Avhite dots. In their restless stage they are scarcely discernible by the naked eye, but they settle down so rapidly and in such numbers that they appear to fall down through the water. This is known to oyster fishermen as a " fall of spat," and we shall see that this fall of spat is an important occurrence, but that it varies greatly in different seasons. THE FAILUEE IN THE NEW SOUTH WALES AND VICTOEIAN OYSTER SUPPLIES. In both New South Wales and Victoria the condition of affairs in connection with the oyster fisheries and the oyster yield is extremely discouraging. So much so, that unless something is done — and done quickly — we may have to rely mainly on outside resources for our supply. Even at the present time this is the case to a greater extent than most people have any idea of. In support of this statement, as far as New South Wales is concerned, it is only necessary to turn to the last Fisheries Report for the year ending 1890. There it is pointed out that in that year, notwithstanding the enormous length of our oyster-bearing foreshores, we are brought face to face with the fact that we are indebted to FISH AND OYSTERS— THEIE FOOD VALUE. 147 other colonies — New Zealand and Queensland — for tivo- thirds of our supply. Again, Mr. Lindsay Thompson, the chief inspector of New South Wales fisheries, in his recent official work, The Fisheries of Neiv South Wales, makes the following statements : — In the year 1871 no less than 93,000 bushels of oysters Avere obtained from the New South Wales beds, which, indeed, helped to supply the Victorian as well as our own needs ; in the year 1883 there was a fall to 46,377 bushels ; while in 1891 our fisheries yielded only 14,1S1 bushels. This is a very significant shrinkage, and shows a remarkable falling off in the winnings. It is still maintained by some, hoAvever, that there has been a succes- sion of bad spatting years, and that the supply may yet reach to something of its old proportions.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

nsisting of numberless granules held together by a sort of slime. The whole is known as " white spat," and the numberless granules are really the oyster eggs. Slowly and slowly the interior of the eggs assumes a darkish hue, tinging the whole mass so much that it is then termed " black spat." Within the space of a fortnight the mass of " black spat " breaks up, and the young oyster is set free. S. 1003. K Mr. Frank Buckland has been fortunate enough to actually see this taking place. The oyster appears to await its opportunity, it stealthily opens its shell, and a lot of spat looking like a dense cloud is ejected. After a minute or two another cloud appears, and this is continually repeated till the performance is concluded. Myriads of young oysters thus liberated from parental control now enter upon the free swimming or locomotive stage of their existence. That is to say they remain near the surface of the sea, although incessantly moving in every direction. After a variable time, however, they suddenly descend and attach themselves to any suitable substance, on which they at once become distinctly visible in the form of white dots. In their restless stage they are scarcely discernible by the naked eye, but they settle down so rapidly and in such numbers that they appear to fall down through the water. This is known to oyster fishermen as a " fall of spat," and we shall see that this fall of spat is an important occurrence, but that it varies greatly in different seasons. THE FAILUEE IN THE NEW SOUTH WALES AND VICTOEIAN OYSTER SUPPLIES. In both New South Wales and Victoria the condition of affairs in connection with the oyster fisheries and the oyster yield is extremely discouraging. So much so, that unless something is done — and done quickly — we may have to rely mainly on outside resources for our supply. Even at the present time this is the case to a greater extent than most people have any idea of. In support of this statement, as far as New South Wales is concerned, it is only necessary to turn to the last Fisheries Report for the year ending 1890. There it is pointed out that in that year, notwithstanding the enormous length of our oyster-bearing foreshores, we are brought face to face with the fact that we are indebted to other colonies — New Zealand and Queensland — for two-thirds of our supply. Again, Mr. Lindsay Thompson, the chief inspector of New South Wales fisheries, in his recent official work, The Fisheries of Neiv South Wales, makes the following statements : — In the year 1871 no less than 93,000 bushels of oysters Avere obtained from the New South Wales beds, which, indeed, helped to supply the Victorian as well as our own needs ; in the year 1883 there was a fall to 46,377 bushels ; while in 1891 our fisheries yielded only 14,181 bushels. This is a very significant shrinkage, and shows a remarkable falling off in the winnings. It is still maintained by some, hoAvever, that there has been a succession of bad spatting years, and that the supply may yet reach to something of its old proportions.

The art of living in Australia