ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE OYSTER. 45 



breadth. They should never be taken in either muddy or 

 sandy spots, but from a firm, hard bottom ; the meat 

 should be short in fibre and not fleshy, nor overloaded 

 with fringe (' beard'), and should lie wholly in the cavity 

 of the shell. Persons of experience in these matters add 

 another characteristic ; a fine purple thread should run 

 round the beard, this being looked upon as a sign of 

 superior quality. These they call by the name of ' calli- 

 blephara,' or oysters with beautiful eyebrows. Oysters are 

 all the better for travelling and beino- removed to new 



O O 



waters. Thus the oysters of Brundisium, it is thought, 

 when fed in the w r aters of Avernus, both retain their own 

 native juices and acquire the flavour of those of Lake 

 Lucrinus." (;z) 



British oysters were first brought to the notice of 

 Roman gourmets in the time of Agrippa (A.D. 78). 

 Having introduced among the inhabitants of these islands 

 the civilization of Rome, Agrippa afterwards imported to 

 Rome the oysters of Britain. The far-famed Rutupians 

 were taken from the shores of Kent, in the neighbourhood 

 of Richborough, and appear to have been thoroughly 

 appreciated. Juvenal, satirizing the gastronomic excesses 

 prevalent in his time, alludes to our "Natives' 1 in these 

 lines : 



" And in our days none understood so well 



The science of good eating ; he could tell, 



At the first relish, if his oysters fed 



On the Rutupian or the Lucrine bed ; 



And from a crab or lobster's colour name 



The country, nay the district, whence it came." 



(Sat. 4, 139.) 



The aricients, like ourselves, were in the habit of 

 taking a few oysters as a prelude to the dinner. 



(n) Nat. Hist., book 32, cap. 21. 



