Walton remarked that many of the mussels attached themselves by preference to that part of posts or stones a little _above_ the mud of the marshes, and that those so situated soon became plumper and fatter, and more suitable for edible purposes, than those buried _in_ the mud. He soon saw the possibilities of a new branch of industry. “The practices he introduced,” wrote a distinguished French writer, long ago, “were so happily adapted to the requirements of the new industry, that, after six centuries, they are still the rules by which the rich patrimony he created for a numerous population is governed.” He placed long rows of twelve‐foot posts, about six feet high out of the watery mud, and a yard apart, each pair of which always formed a letter V; in other words, a number of them radiated from a common centre. The posts were interlaced with a basket‐ work of branches, so as to form continuous hurdles; these are now termed _bouchots_. He also had isolated posts, and one of his great ideas was, as in oyster culture to‐day, to arrest the spat, which would otherwise have washed away to sea with the tide, and been lost. “At the present time these lines of hurdles form a perfect little forest at Aiguillon; there are about a quarter of a million piles alone. In July the _bouchotiers_, as the men employed in this culture are termed, launch their punts, and proceeding to the marshes, detach with a hook the thickly agglomerated masses of young mussels from the piles, which they gather in baskets and take to the bouchots, which form a perfect hedge of fascines and branches, of different heights. Each stage receives the mollusc suitable to it. In the first stage of its existence the mussel cannot endure exposure to the air, and remains constantly under water, except at the period of spring tides. These are gathered in sacks made of old matting, or suspended in interstices of the basket‐work. The mussels are advanced stage after stage until they reach the highest bouchots, which remain out of water at all tides.” The whole bay yielded close on half a million pounds sterling some years ago. “While,” says Figuier, “commending the mussel as an important article of food, we must not conceal the fact that it has produced in certain persons very grave effects, showing that for them its flesh has the effects of poison. The symptoms, commonly observed two or three hours after the repast, are weakness or torpor, constriction of the throat and swelling of the head, accompanied by great thirst, nausea, frequent vomitings, and eruptions of the skin and severe itching.