BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLICATIONS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 

 RELATIVE TO OYSTERS AND THE OYSTER INDUSTRIES. 



1665— Auzout, M. Shining worms in oysters. <Philosophical Transactions, Lon- 

 don, May 7, 1665, No. 12, pp. 203-206. 



Within over 240 oysters which the writer examined he discovered a shining substance 

 which, after inspecting with a microscope, he describes as worms; "and these of three 

 sorts; one sort was whitish, having 21 or 25 feet on each side, forked, a black speck on one 

 side of the head and tlie back like an eel stript of hor skin; the second was red, and 

 resembling the common glowworm, found on land, which folds upon their backs, and feet 

 like the former, and with a nose like that of a dog, and one eye in the head ; tlie third sort 

 was speckled, having a head like that of a soal, with manj' tufts of whitish hair on the 

 sides of it." 

 1668 — Worlidge, J. Systema Agriciiltnrfe; being the Mystery of Husbandry Dis- 

 covered and Laid Open. London, 1868. 4°, 278 pp. 



Describes the uses of oyster shells for agricultural puri>03e3. See 1675. 

 1669— Sprat, Thomas. The history of the generation and ordering of green oysters, 

 coimuonly called Colchester oysters. <] History of tlie Royal Society. 

 London, 1669. F. 



This, the lirst piip^'r of importance within the scope of this bibliography, is so concise 

 and interesting that it is hero transcribed nearly entire, those oxtr.-icts being from pp. 307- 

 309 of the tliird edition, published in London iu 1722: " In the Month of May the Oysters 

 cast their Spawn (which the Dredgers call their Spat) ; it is like to a drop of Candle, and 

 about tlie bigness of a half-penny. The Spat cleaves to Stones, old Oyster-shells, pieces of 

 Wood, and such like things, at the bottom of tho Sea, which they call ' Gultch.' 'Tis 

 jiriibably conjectured, that the Spat in 2t hours begins to have a Shell. In the mouth of 

 May the Dredgers (by the law of the Admiralty Court) have liberty to catch all manner 

 of Oysters of what size soever. When they h^ive taken them, with a knife they gently 

 raise the small brood from the Cultch, and then they throw the Cultch in again, to pre- 

 serve the ground for the future, unless they be so newly spat that they can not be safely 

 severed from the Cultch, iu that case they are permitted to take tho stone or shell, etc., 

 that the Spat is upon, one shell having many times 20 spats. 



" After the month of May it is Felony to carry away tho Cultch, and punishaljle to take 

 any other Oysters, unless it be those of size (that is to say) about the bigness of a half 

 crown piece, or when the two aliells being shut, a fair shilling will rattle between then>. 

 Tho places where these Oysters are chielly catchod are called Pont-Burnham, Maiden, 

 and Colnewaters. * * * This Brood and other Oysters they carry to Creeks of the Sea 

 at Urinkel sea, Mersey, Longno, Fringrego, Winenho, Tolesbury, and Salt-coase, and 

 there throw them into the Channel, which they call their Beds or Layers, where they grow 

 and fatten, and, in 2 or 3 years, the smallest Brood will be Oysters of the size aforesaid. 

 Those Oysters which they would have green, they pnt into Tits about 3 foot deep, in tlie 

 Salt-marches, which are overflowed only at Spring-tides, to which they have sluices, and let 

 out the Saltwater until it is about IJ foot deep. Those Tits from some (fuality in tho Soil 

 coiiperating with the heat of the Sun, will become green, and communicate their color to 

 the Oysters that are put into them in 4 or .'5 d.ays, tliough they commonly let them con- 

 tinue there 6 Weeks or 2 Months, iu which time they will be of dark green. To prove that 

 "the Sun operates in their greening, Tolesbury Tits will green only in Summer; but that 

 the Karth hath the greater power, Briskle sea I'its green both Winter and Summer; and 

 for further proof, a Tit witliin a foot of a greening Pit will not green ; and those tliat did 

 green very well, will in time loose their quality. 



"I'ho Oysters when the tide comes in, lie with hollow shell down wards, and when il goes 

 oat they turn on the other side; they remove not from their place nnlesa in cold weather, 



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