THE OYSTER. 113 



green oysters. Oysters are grown to sell, and 

 English people will not eat oysters which have 

 green beards, on the ground that they are impreg- 

 nated with copper and are consequently poisonous. 

 Foreigners on the contrary delight in green-bearded 

 oysters. The green oysters in England are of two 

 kinds, those from Falmouth, and the green oysters 

 which are found in the river Eoach on the coast of 

 Essex. I propose to describe the latter first. The 

 river Crouch runs into the river Koach, and though 

 the oysters in the Crouch are white-bearded, those 

 in the Eoach are almost invariably green ; this 

 green colour, however, does not extend to the 

 whole meat of the oyster, but to the fin or beard 

 only. Mr. Buckland and Mr. Wiseman, the pro- 

 prietor of large oyster-grounds at Paglesham in 

 Essex, have taken considerable trouble to find out 

 the cause of their peculiar appearance. The facts 

 are as follows : 



The Eoach oysters begin to assume a green 

 beard in the months of September and October, 

 and continue green till March ; and sometimes this 

 peculiar tint does not disappear before May. All 

 the oysters are green, both spat, half-grown, and 

 adult oysters. The oysters from this river have for a 

 very considerable space of time been sent to Ostend, 

 from thence to Paris, Berlin, and even as far as St. 

 Petersburg ; in fact to all the larger continental 



