HISTORY OF THE OYSTER. 



" The ancients," mentions Pennant, quoting Atlien;rns, 

 " eat them raw, and sometimes roasted ; they had also 

 a custom of stewing them w^ith mallows and docks, 

 or with fish (cod's-head and oyster-sauce), and esteemed 

 them very nourishing." 



Among the authors who have written upon the 

 natm*al history of the Oyster since printing was in- 

 vented, I believe Gesner is the first. The title-page 

 of his work, liber iv. ' Qui est de Piscium et Aqua- 

 tilium Animantium Natura,' bears the following letters 

 as a date, cio lo ciiii, and was printed at Frankfort ; 

 the other volume, ' De Avibus,' is dated 1535. 

 Rondeletius and Belon, both of whom are quoted, 

 bear dates, the former 1558, and the latter 1555, 

 supposing my copies to be the first editions. 



Gesner, in his History of the Oyster, ' De (Ostreis, 

 sive) Bivalviis testa duriore contectis, Belonius,' 

 gives the following as the mode in which oysters were 

 treated by the Romans : — " Nam quae a Brundusio in 

 Lucrinum lacum transferebantur (quum Rom ana res 

 magnitudinis atque luxuriae fastigium teneret) ut veluti 

 dulcium aquarum gaudentes adventu pinguescerent, 

 integrae cum testis divendebantur." This practice of 

 the Romans is precisely what is now done on the 

 best-managed beds at the present day. Gesner also 

 states, quoting from Galenus, that they generate 

 healthy humours, and gives an account of those which 

 were supposed to be species in that day. 



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