316 OSTREADiE. 



in bags and barrels. From the boats they are transferred 

 to the salesmen, who keep them in a little salt and spring 

 water, and shift them every twelve hours. Some pre- 

 tend to improve them by "feeding" them with oatmeal. 

 Oysters, like other bivalves, live chiefly on infusoriae. 

 The quantity consumed annually in London varies in 

 different seasons. One informant states twenty thousand 

 bushels of natives, one hundred thousand bushels of com- 

 mon oysters to be about the mark ; another estimates 

 the quantity sold in the season from the 4th of August 

 to the ]2th of May to be nearly one hundred thousand 

 London bushels, each bushel being three Manchester or 

 imperial bushels ; and that about thirty thousand bushels 

 of natives are sold during the same period by various 

 companies. During the season commencing on August the 

 4th, 1848, and ending May 12th, 1849, Mr. Wickenden 

 estimates about one hundred and thirty thousand bushels 

 of oysters to have been sold in London, though of that 

 quantity about one-fourth was sent away to various parts 

 of the United Kingdom and the Continent. 



The oyster-fisheries are protected by legislative enact- 

 ments. Various acts of parliament have * been passed for 

 the better preservation of the oyster-beds and prevention 

 of trespass upon them. To steal oysters is a larceny ; to 

 dredge on an oyster-bed unlawfully or wilfully, is being 

 guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable by fine or impri- 

 sonment — fine not to exceed 201., or imprisonment three 

 calendar months. It is as well that ardent conchologists 

 should know these (to them) obnoxious enactments, for 

 otherwise they may find the search for a new or rare 

 species at the wrong season of the year cost more trouble 



* 31 George III. c. .51.-48 George TIL c. 144.— 7 and 8 George IV. c. 29. 



