Chap. 21.] THE TAEIOUS KINDS OF OTSTEES. 25 



as the whole of the head : care, too, should be taken not to 

 wash it over much ; an observation equally applicable to all 

 kinds of shell-fish, when intended for food, the flavour being 

 deteriorated^' thereby. 



The hippocampus,®^ taken in drink, neutralizes the poison 

 of the sea-hare. As a counter-poison to dorycnium,^^ sea- 

 urchins are remarkably useful ; as also in cases where persons 

 have taken juice of carpathum®^ internally ; more particularly 

 if the urchins are used with the liquor in which they are 

 boiled. Eoiled sea-crabs, too, are looked upon as highly effi- 

 cacious in cases of poisoning by dorycnium ; and as a neutral- 

 iiier of the venom of the sea-hare they are particularly good. 



CHAP. 21. (6.) THE VARIOUS KINDS OF OYSTEES ! FIFTY-EIGHT 



EEMEDIES AND OBSERVATIONS. PUEPLES : NINE EEMEDIES. 



Oysters, too, neutralize the venom of the sea-hare — and now 

 that we are speaking of oysters, it may possibly be thought that 

 I have not treated of this subject at sufficient length in tlie 

 former part^® of my work, seeing that for this long time past 

 the palm has been awarded to them at our tables as a most 

 exquisite dish. Oysters love fresh water and spots^^ where 

 numerous rivers discharge themselves into the sea ; hence it 

 is that the pelagia®* are of such small size and so few in num- 

 ber. Still, however, we do find them breeding among rocks 

 and in places far remote from the contact of fresh water, as in 

 the neighbourhood of Grynium®^ and of Myrina,®^ for example. 

 Generally speaking, they increase in size with the increase of 

 the moon, as already stated by us when®° treating of the aqua- 

 tic animals : but it is at the beginning of summer, more par- 



51 There is considerable truth in this observation. 



52 The sea-horse, the Syngnathus hippocampus of Linna3us. See B. ix. 

 C. 1. 53 See B. xxi. c. 105. 



" The same, probably, as the " opocarpathon " of B. xxviii. c. 45, a 

 substance which does not appear to have been identified with any degree 

 of certainty. See also c. 31 of the present Book. 



55 B. ix. c. 79. 



56 Ajasson remarks that these statements are consistent with fact. 

 5" " Deep-sea " oysters. 



53 In Asia Minor. See B. v. c. 32, where it is called " Grynia." 

 59 In Lemnos. See B. iv. c. 23, and B. v. c. 32. 



^0 This is an error : the statement is made, not in B. ix., but in B. ii. 

 c. 109. 



