OSTREAD^. OYSTER. 143 



therefore they cover over fish taken by moonlight, lest 

 they should decompose. The Italian name for the 

 oyster is Ostrica. 



Experiments have been tried, both on the French and 

 English coasts, to acclimatize the large American oyster, 

 Ostrea Virginica, or Ostrea Virginiana, but they did not 

 succeed, and although when the weather was warm 

 they seemed to fatten and grow, still they would not 

 spawn or spat. Large quantities of American oysters 

 are sent over to Liverpool, and other parts of England, 

 and are sold at a moderate price from Is. to Is. 6d. a 

 dozen was the cost of them in 1876. In 1879, 90,663 

 barrels of oysters were shipped to England from New 

 York, and its neighbourhood, at a total value of 90,661. 



Mr. Nichols, in his ' Forty Years in America/ tells 

 us that oysters are never oat of season in New York. 

 They are brought from the shores of Virginia, and 

 planted to grow and fatten ; so that every quality and 

 flavour can be produced by the varying situations of 

 the banks, and the time of planting and the depth of 

 water regulates the season of the oyster, and keeps the 

 market in constant supply. There is a celebrated 

 restaurant for oysters in New York, No. 783, Sixth 

 Avenue, and the late proprietor, Mr. Robert Burns, 

 informed Mr. Marshall, in November, 1879, that he had 

 then in stock about fifty thousand, and in holiday time 

 he kept from four to five thousand oysters. The shells 

 of one of the large Cow Bay oysters measured 10i inches 

 in length, and averaged 4^ inches in width, and the fish 

 inside averaged 6 inches by 4 inches. Mr. Marshall was 

 shown 15,000 of these monsters stored away in bins in a 

 cellar under the house. Sometimes even larger speci- 

 mens are to be met with. Cow Bay is an inlet of Long 



