OSTllEAD^E. OYSTER. 125 



purplish-pink ; transversely striated. Hinge tooth- 

 less ; ligament internal, of an olivaceous-brown ; 

 beaks small. The interior of the shell white and 

 polished, sometimes the purplish-pink colour of the 

 margins showing through. 



The edible oyster of Great Britain is supposed to be 

 superior to those of other European countries, and to 

 attain to a greater degree of perfection on our coasts ; 

 and it was much valued by the Romans, who trans- 

 planted numbers from our shores, and placed them in 

 artificial beds in the Lucrine Lake. Sergius Grata is 

 said to have first invented the artificial oyster-beds, 

 "not for the gratification of gluttony, but of avarice, as 

 he contrived to make a large income by this exercise 

 of his ingenuity/'* M. Dabry de Thersant in a 

 number of the * China Review/ as quoted in the 

 < Plight of the Lapwing/ states, that artificial oyster- 

 beds were formed in China long before they are known 

 to have existed amongst the Romans, and, while in 

 Europe essays and pamphlets are being written on the 

 theory of the subject, the practical Chinese have been 

 obtaining good results for the last 1800 years, notwith- 

 standing the fact that they have no clear ideas as to the 

 nature of the oyster or its means of reproduction. 



Apicius first discovered the art of preserving oysters 

 fresh for a considerable time, and sent some from Italy 

 to the Emperor Trajan, while he was on an expedition 

 against the Parthians, which were found on their arrival 

 to be as good as on the day they were gathered, f This 

 mode may possibly have been the same as that which 

 is practised in Italy at the present day, where, as Poli 



* Pliny, ' Nat. Hist.' vol. ii. bk. ix. chap. 79. 

 f Daniel's ' Rural Sports,' vol. iv. p. 194. 



