THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



NOVEMBER, 1874. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE OYSTER. 



By Rev. SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, Ph. D. 



I. 



AN illiterate fisherman once became wetlnigh eloquent in his 

 effort to describe to us the treasures which the waters offered 

 freely to man. Nature is, indeed, lavishly opulent. Among the food- 

 treasures of this bounteous harvest of the sea, the oyster ranks high 

 in the general esteem. And deservedly so, for she is truly the queen 

 of the bivalves. Let us try to tell the story of her life. 



Oyster-Planting. For a creature of such lowly rank in the scale 

 of animate being, it is wonderful what a literature attaches to the oys- 

 ter. Through the roll of the ages it has been a factor of prime impor- 

 tance in the convivial instincts, the moralities, and the industries of 

 men. It has honorable mention in classic song and story. When 

 imperial Rome had her many million populace, and her almost fabu- 

 lous wealth, the oyster figured prominently in the more than lavish 

 luxury of that extravagant city. Do our oyster-growers know how 

 ancient their calling is ? About 2,400 years ago one Sergius Orata, a 

 man of a practical mind, turned Lake Avernus into an oyster-bed ; 

 and through his culture of this bivalve the Lucrin oysters, as they 

 were called, became in reputation the "Saddle-Rocks" of Rome. And 

 what a splendid market he had ! His practical genius carried the new 

 industry of oyster-planting to great perfection ; and such was his rep- 

 utation in that line that the Romans had a saying that, should the 

 oysters stop growing in Lucrin Lake, Sergius would make them grow 

 on the tops of the houses. Avernus has at last succumbed to the mu- 

 tations of time, and is to-day a miserable hole of volcanic mud. It 

 now offers a good opportunity to test the great man's abilities ; but 

 Sergius Orata himself " dried up " some time ago. 



Near Baiae and Cuniae is the Neapolitan Lake Fusaro (Fig. 1). This 

 was the classic Acheron. It is about three leagues round, and is hardly 



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