44 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



that the ^Ethiopians were not altogether ignorant of the 

 art, for the Greek historian of Cnidus speaks of " the 

 people wandering along the shores of the Arabian Gulf in 

 search of shell-fish, which are found there of a size so vast 

 as to be thought incredible by all who had not seen them. 

 These they collect, and while as yet there is a plentiful 

 supply of fish, put in stews, where they fatten them on 

 newly gathered sea-weed and the heads of minute fish, so 

 as to be ready for food in times of scarcity. What the 

 giant molluscs are does not appear ; but the passage is 

 interesting as showing the early practice of fattening shell- 

 fish in vivaria. 



Pliny has written much about oysters, and the informa- 

 tion he gives is curious. He says that for a long time past 

 the palm has been awarded to them at our tables as a most 

 exquisite dish. We are told they love fresh water, and 

 spots where numerous rivers discharge themselves into the 

 sea : hence it is that the pelagia (or deep-sea oysters) are 

 of such small size and so few in number : 



" Still, however, we do find them breeding among 

 rocks and in places far remote from the contact of fresh 

 water, as in the neighbourhood of Grynium and of Myrina, 

 for example. Generally speaking, they increase in size 

 with the increase of the moon ; but it is at the beginning 

 of summer more particularly, and when the rays of the 

 sun penetrate the shallow water, that they are swollen with 



an abundance of milk Oysters are of various 



colours ; in Spain they are red, in Illyricum of a tawny 

 hue, and at Circeii black both in meat and shell. But in 

 every country those oysters are the most highly esteemed 

 that are compact without being slimy from their secretions, 

 and are remarkable more for their thickness than their 



