134 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLtSCA. 



were taken. The Burran Bank oysters are highly 

 esteemed in Dublin, and are called " Burton Baidcns/' 

 They are brought from Kilkerran and Rossmuck 

 Bays, in Gralway, and are laid down to fatten on the 

 Red Bank Oyster-bed in Aughinish Bay. Formerly 

 Mr. Burton Bindon was the possessor of these beds, 

 but now Mr. Singleton has succeeded him, as we are 

 informed by Mr. Buckland, who visited these and 

 other oyster-beds on the west coast of Ireland, the 

 east coast of England, and also those on the west 

 coast of France. 



There are oyster-beds in the Shannon, said in 1836 to 

 yield a revenue of £1400 ; and formerly, a small bed in 

 Cork harbour, of no great extent, but the oysters were 

 large, and prized for stewing; however, I am told that 

 the latter no longer exists. In Lough Swilly there are 

 oyster-beds, but the oysters were getting very scarce 

 in 1876, and it was proposed having what is called in 

 Ireland, a jubilee, viz., closing the banks, or a portion 

 of them, for two years, and preventing the picking or 

 taking of small oysters.* Oysters are increasing in 

 scarcity and dearness in Ireland and in England, and 

 this may be traced in a measure to the increased de- 

 mand, the railroads conveying the oysters into the 

 country ; and Mr. Farrer stated, in the evidence before 

 the Committee on Oyster Fisheries, in 1876, that oyster 

 cultivators had great difficulty in obtaining oysters to 

 fatten, because they were taken into the manufactur- 

 ing districts, where the people eat them though in 

 bad condition ; whereas they formerly had them 

 brought to the beds in the Thames. 



It is said that over- dredging has destroyed many of 



* ' Report on Oyster Fisheries,' 1876; Mr. Blake's evidence. 



