BIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 379 



the point of Jutland, and opposite Shagen, beds less productive are 

 found. 



The great oyster-beds of England extend from Gravesend, in the 

 estuary of the Thames and Medway, along the Kentish coast on the 

 one hand, and the estuary of the Colne and other rivers on the 

 Essex coast. The Frith of Forth is also famous for its oyster-beds, 

 extending from Prestonpans far up the estuary of the river ; but, 

 curiously enough, all these great banks, without exception, have been 

 impoverished, and all but exhausted, by improvident dredging, in 

 spite of the " close season " which has always existed.* 



" He was a bold man who first ate an oyster," has been said 

 before. The name of the courageous individual has not been 

 recorded, but Mr. Bertram, in his " Harvest of the Sea," tells us a 

 legend concerning him : — " Once upon a time " — it must have been a 

 long time ago — " a man of melancholy mood was walking by the 

 shores of a picturesque estuary, listening to the monotonous murmur 

 of the sad sea-waves, when he espied a very old and ugly oyster-shell 

 all coated over with })arasites and sea-weeds. It was so unpre- 

 possessing that he kicked it with his foot, and the animal, astonished 

 at receiving such rude treatment on its own domain, gaped wide 

 \v\\.\\ indignation, preparatory to closing its valves still more tightl}-. 

 Seeing the beautiful cream-coloured lavers that shone within the 

 shelly covering, and fancying that the interior of the shell itself must 

 be beautiful, he lifted up the aged ' native ' for further examination, 

 inserting his finger and thumb within the valves. The irate mollusc, 

 thinking, no doubt, that this was meant as a further insult, snapped 

 its pearly doors down upon his fingers, causing him considerable 

 pain. After releasing his wounded digits, our inquisitive gentleman 

 very naturally put it in his mouth. ' Delightful I " exclaimed he, 

 opening wide his eyes ; ' what is this ? ' and again he sucked his 

 finger. Then the great truth flashed upon him that he had found 

 out a new delight — had, in fact, achieved the most important dis- 

 covery ever made. He proceeded at once to realise the thought. 

 With a stone he opened the oyster's stronghold, and gingerly tried 

 a piece of the mollusc itself. ' Delicious ! ' he exclaimed ; and there 

 and then, with no other condiment than its own juice, with no 

 accompaniment of foaming browti stout or pale Chablis to wash it 



* The cause of the present scarcity of oysters is a much-vexed question. 

 Mr. Frank Buckland, a most excellent authority on oyster and fish culture, 

 attributes it to sudden changes of temperature at the critical period when the 

 spat is newly formed, rather than to over-dredging. 



