288 OUT OF DOORS. 



by some strange logic are supposed to be applied 

 towards the repairs of the grotto. 



It would be a most injurious act to catch the 

 oysters during these months, as they are then engaged 

 in laying their eggs, if this strange operation can 

 deserve the name. If, for example, a barn-door hen, 

 instead of laying her eggs in her straw nest, were to 

 transfer them into her lungs, there to be hatched and 

 half fledged, we should be perplexed to find a name for 

 the proceeding. Yet this is just what is done with the 

 oyster. The eggs are very minute when first produced, 

 and are kept by the parent between the shell and the 

 gill membranes ; where they remain until they are 

 furnished with shells of their own, and able to cope 

 with the watery world into which they are about to be 

 launched. I well recollect, when I was a very little 

 boy, bringing home some fresh-water mussels, and being 

 completely astonished at finding a number of the 

 tiniest little mussels floating in the liquid contained 

 in the shell. So, when an oyster is out of season, and 

 a thoughtless person ventures to eat it, he will find 

 that a number of little shells will have an unpleasant 

 grating effect upon his teeth, and will learn practically 

 the effect of the ' fence ' months. 



It may be said that if the female oysters were per- 

 mitted to rest during the fence months, and the males 

 brought to table, we should still ensure our present 

 supply for the table without risking the future crops for 

 ensuing years. But there is a difficulty here. No one 



I 



