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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



such exceptions, the usual method of eating them raw is to be pre- 

 ferred " (page 116). 



Americans, I believe, are the only people who eat the so-called 

 soft-shell crabs; that is, crabs at the time of having cast the skin. It 

 is not at all probable that, at such a time, the animal is wholesome 

 food. And so with oysters, during the spawning-season, it is wiser to 

 abstain, for the reason that one is not sure that the oysters we are 

 eating then are not in a spawning state. In its normal condition the 

 oyster is excellent food ; and, if we assign it its rank among the shell- 

 fish, it will be, without dispute, the queen of the bivalves. 



Fig. 10. Asterias Rubens, a European Sea-star, or Star-fish. 



Some Facts, Geographical and Ethnological. Says Figuier, 

 Virginia has 2,000,000 acres of oyster-beds. In many places they grow 

 so thickly that they make immense mounds in the water, the lower 

 oysters being killed by those above. Even mouths of the sea have 

 been closed by them, says Dr. Smith. Certainly in this particular the 

 wealth of Virginia and Maryland is immense. In former times ail the 

 suitable waters of New York and New Jersey abounded in native 

 oysters. There are those yet living who remember the custom of the 

 farmers to go with their wagons to the shore at or near Keyport, New 

 Jersey, to gather " natural " oysters. There is a curious old map in 

 existence which will, we predict, become famous as an authority in 

 the appeals of State diplomacy. It is dedicated to Governor Moore, 



