66 



CLASS CONCHIFERA. 



month of May : when first shed it has the appearance of 

 a drop of candle-jrrease, which the dredj^jers commonly 

 call cidtch. The growth of an Oyster is tolerably rapid; 

 three days after the spawn is deposited, the shell of the 

 young Ovster may he seen, nearly a quarter of an inch 

 in width ; in three months it is larger than a shilling, 

 in six months bigger than a half-crown, and in a year it 

 exceeds a crown piece in size. 



Ostrca edalis. 



Oysters have been employed as food almost from time 

 immemorial. The Greeks, but more especially the 

 Romans, held them in high repute, attaching, at the 

 same time, great importance to the places in which they 

 were found. Those from the Dardanelles, from Venice, 

 and from England, were considered the best, and the 

 prices paid for them by the luxurious inhabitants of 

 Rome were enormous. They were transported in large 

 vessels, and deposited in the Lucrine Lake, where they 

 were fattened for the table. The Romans, it seems, 

 ga\e a preference to those which had the border of their 

 mantle of a dark-brown colour, nearly black. 



