50 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



all that was necessary was to substitute sea-water for 

 fresh, (j) 



Various ancient authors were of opinion that the moon 

 had peculiar influence over oysters and other shell-fish. 

 Thus Lucilius, in one of his fragments, says : 



" Luna alit ostrea, et implet echinos, muribu' fibras 

 Et pecui addit." 



Similarly Manilius : 



" Si submersa fretis concharum et carcere clausa, 

 Ad Lunse niotum variant animalia corpus." 



Horace, too, was of the same opinion : 



" Lubrica nascentes implent conchylia lunae." (t} 



Nor did the idea prevail only with the poets ; Cicero 

 accepted it as a well-ascertained fact. " Ostreis et con- 

 chyliis," he says, " omnibus contingit, ut cum luna pariter 

 crescant pariterque decrescant." () 



The following story is told of Aulus Gellius : " The 

 poet Annianus, on his Falerian estate, was wont to spend 

 the time of vintage in a jovial and agreeable way, and he 

 had invited me and several other friends to pass those 

 days with him. When we were at supper there, a large 

 quantity of oysters was brought from Rome ; but when 

 they were set before us, they proved, though many, yet all 

 poor and thin. The moon (remarked Annianus) is now in 

 truth waning, and on that account the oyster, like other 

 things, is lean and void of juice. We asked what other 

 things waste when the moon is old ? Do you remember, 

 said he, what Lucilius says : ' Those very things which 

 grow with the moon's increase pine away as it wanes ; the 



(s) " The Oyster." 



(t) Sat. 2, 4. See also Pliny, Nat. Hist. 2, cap. 41. 

 (u) De Div. 2, 14. 



