SUPPLEMENT. I2iy 



oysters are poorest, and they are more watery then than at 

 any other time. 



After the breeding period their size increases from 

 month to month, and, in case their nourishment is not 

 interrupted by long-continued severe cold, their flavour 

 becomes fuller and richer in proportion to the rapid 

 development of the generative organs. From this it fol- 

 lows that winter, but more especially spring, are the 

 periods of the year for the enjoyment of oysters. I have 

 repeatedly heard people, who rated themselves as genuine 

 oyster-eaters, say that " oysters ought never to be bitten, 

 but should be swallowed whole." If this were so, then 

 one might better use, in the place of the high-priced 

 oyster, a succedaneum made of tasteless thin paste, and 

 having merely the form of the oyster. 



As with all other kinds of food, the flavour of the 

 oyster is more effective, and can be better appreciated, the 

 more intimately its constituent elements come in contact 

 with the surface of the organs of taste. Therefore, if one 

 would obtain the full flavour of the oyster, it must be bitten 

 to pieces and chewed, in order that all the constituents 

 may be free to produce their greatest effects. 



. the very finest oysters are found upon the 

 beds near Hornum. The oysters of these beds are especi- 

 ally distinguishable by the large growth of their organs of 

 generation. Their flavour is very delicate, and never 

 bitter and watery, as is the case with the oysters of many 

 other beds. This superiority in form and flavour must be 

 the direct result of the action upon the oysters of these 

 banks of the external conditions of life under which they 

 exist. The oysters upon the beds near Hornum lie deeper 

 and nearer the open sea than those farther in upon the 



flats. The water, also, which flows over them during the 



oo 



