INTRODUCTION. 



The oyster (Latin, ostracea, ostreidcB or pectinidce) 

 is of the family of Conchiferous Mollusca to which 

 the common oyster or ostrea edulis belongs, and is 

 described as a bivalve shellfish having the valves 

 generally unequal. The hinge is without teeth, 

 but furnished with a somewhat oval cavity, and 

 mostly with lateral grooves ; they generally adhere 

 to rocks, or, as in two or three species, to roots of 

 trees on the shore. 



The ' ostrea edulis ' may be said to have its 

 home in Britain, for though found elsewhere on 

 the coasts of Europe, and other countries, in no 

 part does it attain such perfection as in our seas. 



The ancient Romans valued our native oysters 

 even as we do now, and must have held them in 

 higher estimation than those of Italian shores, or 

 they would not have brought them so far for their 

 luxurious feasts. Juvenal records the exquisite 

 taste of the epicure 



Who 

 At the first bite each oyster's birthplace knew, 

 Whether a Lucrine or Circaean he'd bitten, 

 Or one from Rutupinian deeps in Britain. 



Essex and Suffolk are the most celebrated 

 localities in England for them, where they are 

 dredged up by means of a net with an iron scraper 

 at the mouth, which is dragged by a rope from a 



