70 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



found at Cyzicus, a town in Asia Minor,"* on the shores 

 of the Sea of Marmora, the ruins now called by the 

 Turks, Bal Kiz. He describes them as larger than 

 those of Lake Lucrinus ; fresher than those of the 

 British coasts ; sweeter than those of Medulse (the dis- 

 trict in the vicinity of Bordeaux, now called Medoc) ; 

 more tasty than those of Ephesus ; more plump than 

 those of Lucus ; less slimy than those of Coryphas (a 

 town of Mysia, opposite Lesbos) ; more delicate than 

 those of Istria, and whiter than those of Circeii (a town 

 of Latium). Pliny mentions that according to the his- 

 torians of Alexander's expedition, oysters were found in 

 the Indian Sea a foot in diameter,t an d Sir James E. 

 Tennent unexpectedly attested the correctness of this 

 statement, as at Kottiar, near Trincomalee, enormous 

 specimens of the edible oysters were brought to the rest- 

 house. One shell measured more than eleven inches in 

 length, by half as many broad. J 



The Greeks preferred the oysters of Abydos, and 

 Archestratus, in his ' Gastronomy/ says : — 



" JEnus has mussels fine ; Abydus too 



Is famous for its oysters ; Parium produces 



Crabs, the bears of the sea, and Mitylene periwinkles ; 



Ambracia in all kinds of fish abounds, 



And the boar-fish sends forth ; and in its narrow strait 



Messene cherishes the largest cockles. 



In Ephesus you shall catch chemae, which are not bad, 



And Chalcedon will give you oysters." § 



Great Britain is still celebrated for its oysters, and 

 large artificial beds are formed for the better rearing and 

 breeding of these shellfish, besides the natural oyster- 



* See Pliny, vol. vi. bk. xxxii. ch. 21 (6). 

 f Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. xxxii. chap. 21 (6). 

 X See note, Nat. Hist. Ceylon, p. 371. 

 § ' The Deipnosophists,' vol. i. bk. iii. p. 154. 



