BIVALVED SHELL-FISH. 



369 



small oysters along the shore, which, when first 

 gathered, seldom exceed the size of a sixpence. 

 These are deposited in beds where the tide 

 comes in, and in two or three years grow to a 

 tolerable size. They are said- to be better 

 tasted from being thus sheltered from the agita- 

 tions of the deep ; and a mixture of fresh water 

 entering into these repositories, is said to im- 

 prove their flavour, and to increase their 

 growth and fatness. 1 



1 Oysters. Oysters are said to be in season in every 

 month of the year that has an R in its name, beginning 

 with September and ending with April ; but the season 

 in many places extends from August to May. Every 

 city has its favourite oyster-bank. In London, the Col- 

 chester and Milton oysters are held in most esteem ; 

 Edinburgh has her " whiskered Pandores," and, latterly, 

 Aberdour oysters ; and Dublin, the Carlingford and 

 " Powldoodies of Burran." For the convenience of ob- 

 taining a ready supply of oysters, they are often trans- 

 ported from their original beds, and laid down on pro- 

 per places of the coast ; but these exiles are seldom 

 found in such perfection as those which are called na- 

 tives that is, such as have never been rudely torn from 

 their native homes, and sent on voyages of profit. Oys- 

 ters, when just dredged, may be so packed in small bar- 

 rels as to keep good for a week or ten days ; and in this 

 state they are sent to distant places. They may also 

 be preserved good for some time by/eediny; and custom, 

 which brings gourmands to admire game most when in 

 a state of putridity, has taught them to relish the flavour 

 of stale oysters better than those recently taken from the 

 beds. The fresher oysters are, they are the better, but when 

 to be kept, lay them, bottom downwards, in a tub, or any 

 vessel suited to the quantity to be preserved, and cover 

 them with water in which a good deal of salt is dis- 

 solved ; change the water every twelve hours. Most 

 cooks direct that this delicate animal should be fed with 

 catmeal or flour sprinkled in the water ; and others, on 

 the principle which leads a mother of the parish of St 

 Giles to bathe her new-born darling in a drop of gin, are 

 for feeding them with white wine and bread crumbs ! 

 It is said, by those who have the charge of fish-ponds, 

 that " fish will eat nothing but what conies out of the 

 sea ;" now, though we are not perfectly convinced of 

 this fact, we can at least believe that salt-water gruel 

 is not over well suited to the delicate stomach of an 

 oyster. Those large, fat oysters, called Pandores, 

 which are so much prized in Edinburgh, are said to 

 owe their superior excellence to the blackish contents 

 of the pans of the adjacent salt-works of Prestonpans 

 flowing out upon the beds, a subject worthy the serious 

 investigation of the oyster amateur, who may here receive 

 some excellent hints for fattening and improHng the 

 quality of his favourite morsel. 



Shell-fish, and the oyster above all, have long been 

 deemed highly restorative and easy of digestion: they 

 are therefore recommended for the food of the delicate 

 and declining, and of those whose digestive powers have 

 been impaired by excess. When eaten for health, an 

 oyster is best swallowed with its own liquor, the moment 

 the shell is opened : or if found too cold for the stomach, 

 a sprinkling of black pepper may be allowed. Vinegar 

 counteracts the effect of eating oysters to enrich the 

 blood, or render it more balsamic ; and ought, therefore, 

 to be avoided by the declining. As there are no reason- 

 able bounds to oyster-eating, it may be' useful to notice 

 here that, when too many of these or other shell-fish are 

 swallowed, the unpleasant feeling may be removed by 

 drinking half a pint of hot milk. Consumptive persons 

 are recommended to use hot milk after their oysters at 

 all times. 



VOL. II. 



The oysters, however, which are prepared 

 in this manner, are by no means so large 

 as those found sticking to rocks at the bot- 

 tom of the sea, usually called rock oysters. 

 These are sometimes found as broad as a 

 plate, and are admired by some as excellent 

 food. But what is the size of these compared 

 to the oysters of the East-Indies, some of 

 whose shells I have seen two feet over! The 

 oysters found along the coast of Coromandel 

 are capable of furnishing a plentiful meal to 

 eight or ten men ; but it seems universally 

 agreed, that they are no way comparable to 

 ours for delicacy of flavour.* 



Thus the mussel and the oyster appear to 

 have but few distinctions, except in their shape 

 and the power of motion in the former. Other 

 bivalved shell-fish, such as the cockle, the 

 scallop, and the razor-shell, have differences 

 equally minute. The power of changing 

 place, which some of them effect in a manner 

 quite peculiar to themselves, makes their 

 greatest difference. The scallop is particu- 

 larly remarkable for its method of moving for- 

 ward upon land, or swimming upon the sur- 

 face of the water. When this animal finds 

 itself deserted by the tide, it makes very 

 remarkable efforts to regain the water, mov- 

 ing towards the sea in a most singular man- 

 ner. It first gapes with its shell as widely as it 

 can, the edges being often an inch asunder; then 

 it shuts them with a jerk, and by this the 

 whole animal rises five or six inches from the 

 ground. It thus tumbles any how forward, 

 and then renews the operation until it has 

 attained its journey's end. When in the 

 water, it is capable of supporting itself upon 

 the surface ; and there opening and shutting 

 its shells, it tumbles over and over, and makes 

 its way with some celerity. 



The Pivot, or Razor-shell, has a very dif- 

 ferent kind of motion. As the former moves 

 laboriously and slowly forward, so the razor, 

 shell has only a power of sinking point down- 



Of the univalved shells, the periwinkle (Turbo littoreus) 

 and common whelk (Bucciuum lapillus, Lin.) frequently 

 furnish to the poorer classes of our sea-coast towns and 

 villages a repast, perhaps sufficiently wholesome, and 

 certainly not destitute of relish. But, even to them 

 these m?y be regarded merely in the light of luxuries : 

 it is far otherwise with the still poorer inhabitants of 

 several of the Western isles of Scotland. Periwinkles 

 and limpets (Patella vulgata), which so profusely stud 

 the rocks of their shores, are their daily fare, and on 

 which they are sometimes reduced to the necessity of 

 altogether subsisting. In the Isle of Sky, for example, 

 we are told that there is almost annually a degree of 

 famine, when the poor are left to Providence's care, and 

 prowl, like other animals, along the shores, to pick up 

 limpets and other shell-fish : " the casual repast," adds 

 Mr Pennant, "of hundreds, during part of the year, in 

 these unhappy islands." 



8 The shell here alluded to is probably the Giant 

 Chama, a native of the Indian ocean, and the largest 

 shell at present known. 



3 A 



