518 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Edible oyster Spawning time. 



The edible oysters inhabit the European and 

 Indian seas, and are well known as a palatable 

 and nutritious food. Most of our coasts pro- 

 duce them in great abundance, but the coasts 

 chiefly celebrated are those of Essex and Suffolk, 

 Here they are dredged up by means of a net, 

 with an iron scraper at the mouth, that is 

 dragged by a rope from a boat, over the beds. 

 As soon as taken from their native beds, they are 

 stored in pits formed for the purpose, furnished 

 with sluices> through which, at the spring tides, 

 the water is suffered to flow. This water being 

 stagnant, soon becomes green in warm weather,, 

 and, in a. few days afterward, the oysters acquire 

 the same tinge, which renders them of greater 

 talue in the market ; but they do not acquire 

 their full quality, and become fit for sale, till the 

 end of six or eight weeks. 



Oysters usually cast their spawn, or spats, as 

 the fishermen call them, in April or May, upon 

 rocks, stones, shells, or any other hard substance 

 that happens to be near the place where they lie, 

 to which the spats immediately adhere. These, 

 till they obtain their iilm or crust, are somewhat 

 like a drop of a candle, but are of a greenish 

 bue. The substances to which they adhere, of 

 whatever nature, are called culteh. From the 

 spawning time till about the end of July, the 

 oysters are said to be sick, but by the end of 

 August they become perfectly recovered. Du- 

 ring these months they are out of season, and are 

 $ 



