142 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



In the Bay of Cadiz Ostrea Virginica (or Ostrea 

 angulata?) is eaten when very small, but the poor people 

 eat it full-size, viz., ten inches long. This species lives 

 in the salt mud of the Guadalete, and is called Ostione; 

 other oysters are called Ostrea or Ostrias, and Ostrea 

 edulis is known by the name of Ostia blanca. The river 

 is said to be salt three leagues from its mouth. 



A Frenchman at Puerto St. Maria tried the experi- 

 ment of breeding oysters for the Madrid market, but 

 they were slimy, and not to be compared with the 

 English oysters, though they were said to be good when 

 cooked ; and Major Byng Hall stated that at Madrid, 

 oysters not fine ones cost twopence-halfpenny (that 

 is, 1 suppose, one real) each ; but this is not very 

 remarkable, for in 1865 natives cost twopence, and 

 Whitstable oysters three -halfpence each in London, the 

 very land of oysters, so scarce had the mollusks become. 



Ostrea edulis is found in abundance in the Gulfs 

 of Trieste and of Venice. Ostreo-culture is carried on 

 in a most primitive manner by the fishermen of Moi - 

 falcone, Duino, Zaole, &c. They drive piles, or rather 

 oak branches, into the bed of the sea, in one and a half 

 to two fathoms of water, in the spring, and in the 

 autumn, when the spat has settled on them, they are 

 transferred into deep waters, there to await their de- 

 velopment after the third season. In Dalmatia the 

 branches of oak are me rely thrown into the water, and 

 there allowed to remain until the oysters mature and fall 



off.* 



The Tarentines declare that oysters are fattest during 

 the full moon, and they are also fully persuaded that 

 the moon-beams have a pernicious effect upon sea-fish, 



* * The Fisheries of the Adriatic,' by G. L. Faber. 



