570 THE EDIBLE OYSTER. 



The Oysters in the pits of course always lie loose, 

 but on their native beds they are in genera] fixed 

 (from the time they are cast) by their under shell ; 

 and their goodness is said to be materially affected 

 by their being laid in the pits with the fiat shell 

 downward, not being able in this position to retain 

 sufficient water in the shell for their support *. 



The French assert, but apparently without proof, 

 that the English Oysters, which are esteemed the best 

 in Europe, were originally procured from Concalle 

 Bay near St Malo. 



With regard to the locomotive faculty of the 

 Oyster, when detached from its native rocks or ha- 

 bitation (which is a subject of curious investigation) 

 every one must have observed that this cannot take 

 place in the usual way of other bivalves, by means 

 of a foot, for such an appendage is in it altogether 

 wanting. The abbe Dicquemaire, who attended 

 minutely the manners of these as well as of se- 

 veral other marine animals, assures us that they have 

 a power of moving themselves, and this by the sin- 

 gular effort of ejecting water with considerable force 

 from their shells. They thus are able either to throw 

 themselves backward or to start aside in a lateral 

 direction. He says that any person may amuse 

 himself with the squirting and motions of Oysters, 

 by putting them in a plate placed in a horizontal 



* Haak on the Breeding of Colchester Oysters, MSS. In Brit. 

 Mus. Ays. Cat. No. 24-3. 49.— Tuke on the Generation and Order- 

 ing of Colchester Oysters, Sprat's History of the Royal Society, 

 p. 307. 



