49 



which feed on mussels and cockles, and so sometimes leave 

 immense quantities of clean, empty shells, read}' at the 

 moment when the spat is seeking its natural anchorage, 

 may account for a good season. There may be many 

 other causes unsuspected. It has been supposed that a 

 warm summer induces oysters to spawn freely, but many 

 warm summers pass without the desired harvest of spat. 

 Under the impression that five-lingers were being dredged 

 up too freely, steps were taken recently to put a stop, for a 

 time, to that industry, but there was such an alarm raised 

 by many flatsmen who saw their winter livelihood about to 

 be destroyed, that the Board of Trade declined to pass the 

 required bye-law, and yet the oyster does not seem to have 

 suffered from anticipated harm by the continued removal 

 of so man\ 7 five-fingers. Of course the absence of a 

 sufficient number of mature oysters to produce spawn would 

 insure its absence, but this could hardly occur at 

 Whitstable, where this fact is perfectly well understood. 

 By disregarding this obvious fact, natural oyster grounds 

 abroad have sometimes been fished out and rendered quite 

 barren. 



Among the English variety is sometimes found what the 

 fishermen call "Button Oysters" or "Buttons," which grow 

 smaller in circumference, it is said, as they grow older ; 

 they get stunted at the beard end, and grow inwards at the 

 hinge. They are regarded as " sports " by some, though 

 others ascribe the peculiarity to the breakage of the thin 

 edges of the shells when young, causing contraction. 



Some fishermen say the age of an oyster can be detected 

 by carefully examining the external layers of the shells, to 

 which they assert a new layer is added each year, though 

 I must admit that I find the greatest difficulty in doing so 

 with anv accuracy in manv of the shells I have examined. 



