tion of them has been immense from the time of the Bo- 

 mans to the present day, yet such is the rapidity of their 

 increase, tha-t their abundance does not appear to be limit- 

 ed. It is believed that the Romans first devised the pre- 

 sent method of improving their good qualities, by trans- 

 porting them when young to favorable situations, where 

 there is an admixture of fresh waiter. The shells were 

 used by the Athenians in the performance of their right of 

 suffrage, during the earlier periods of their government, 

 and the sentence of condenmation or acquital of the ar- 

 raigned, was marked upon a shell ; whence the word os- 

 tracism had its origin. 



The oysters of England are held in higher estimation 

 than those of Germany, France or Italy. We are inform- 

 ed that a foreign embassador at the Hague gave a sumptu- 

 ous entertainment, during which oysters were introduced, 

 that were supposed by their color to be from England. 

 But all who ate of them were immediately seized with 

 violent and continued vomiting. On enquiry it was as- 

 certained that the oyslerman had tinted the common oys- 

 ter with verJegris, to obtain a high price for them as En- 

 glish oysters. 



It is related of Apicius that he had a method of preserv- 

 ing oysters for a long time and that he sent them from Ita- 

 ly to the Emperor Trajan in Persia, as fresh as the day 

 they were taken from the water. There is doubtless some 

 exaggeration in this, and it is probable that his method 

 may not have been preferable to that of our oystermen, 

 who transport the animal in kegs to great distances. Al- 

 drovandus and others of the earlier writers, entertained a ' 

 singular and erroneous notion relative to the crab and the 



PI. 58. 



