44 THE OTSTEE. 



by which to preserve them for some time in hot weather ; 

 for which purpose, as we see in the Pompeian model- 

 house at the Crystal Palace, their domiciles were 

 furnished with a receptacle for water ; for with those 

 famous epicures the water-vivary was an essential 

 necessary for the preservation of living fish, and all that 

 was necessary was to substitute sea-water for fresh. 

 Probably by some such means, Apicius Coelius, who 

 must not be confounded with the writer of a book of 

 cookery which bears his name, sent Trajan, when that 

 emperor was in the country of the Parthians, oysters, 

 which when received were as fresh as they ever could 

 be eaten when just taken from their beds ; and Pliny 

 even believed that the journey had proved beneficial to 

 their flavour. 



