25 PUNT'S ^ATCR\L IIISTOTIT. [Book XXXII. 



ticularly, and when, the rays of the sun penetrate the sh allow 

 waters, that thej* are swollen with an abundance of milk. 61 This, 

 too, would appear to be the reason why they are HO small when 

 found out at sea ; the opacity of the water tending to_nrrest_ 

 their growth, and the moping consequent thereon producing a 

 comparative indisposition for food. 



Oysters are of various colours ; in Spain they arc red, in 

 Illyricnm of a tawny line, and at Circcii'* black, both in meat 

 and shell. Dut in every country, those oysters are the most 

 highly esteemed that are compact without being slimy from 

 their secretions, and are remarkable more for their thickness 

 than their breadth. They should never be taken in either 

 muddy or sandy spot.s, but from a linn, hard bottom; the 

 meal should be compressed, and not of a ileshy consistence; 

 and the oyster should be free from fringed edge*, and lying 

 wholly in the cavity of the shell. Persons of experience in 

 these matters add another characteristic; a line purple thread, 

 they say, should run round the margins of the beard, this being 

 looked upon as a sign of superior quality, and obtaining for 

 them their name of " calliblephara." 64 



Oysters are all the better for travelling and being removed 

 to new waters; thus, for example, the oysters of Jirundisium, 

 it is thought, when fed in the waters of Avernus, both retain 

 their own native juices and acquire the llavour of those of 



61 Sec B. ii. c. 74. It is at the spawning season that this milky liquid 

 IR found in the oystt-r ; a period at which the meat of the h'sh is considered 

 unwholesome as food. AVe have a saying that the oyster should never be 

 au-n in the months without an r ; that the same, too, was the opinion ill 

 the middle ages is proved by the Leonine line: 



*' Mcnsibus erratis vos ostrea mandueatis." 



" In the r'd months you may your oysters cat." 



62 See B. in. c. 9. Horace sneaks of the oysters of Circeii. B. ii. 

 Sat. 4. 1. 33. 



There has beon considerable discussion among the commentators as 

 to the meaning of the word 4t spondylus" here. We are inclined to adopt 

 the opinion of Yenette, and to think' that it means the so-called "meat" 

 of the oyster. It must be short, and consequ* -ntiy plump and compara- 

 tively de.-tituto of beard, and it must not be Ik-shy, ?is that would imply a 

 dvirree of toughness not desirable in an oyster. The words "nee liUris 

 laciiiiata ac tola in alvo," only seem to be an amplification of the pre- 

 ceding ones, <4 &pondylo brevi ct non carnoso." 



Ci Literally, " Having beautiful eyebrows." 



