42 "Natural History of Molluscous Animals : — 



Oysters abound on various parts of the British coast, and 

 are consumed, under one form or another, in such numbers, 

 as to have become a valuable article of commerce. To give 

 you some idea of its extent, and of the number of hands to 

 which it gives employment, it may be sufficient to mention the 

 oyster-fisheries of Essex alone. In the rivers of this county, 

 more particularly in the Crouch, the Blackwater, and Colne, a 

 great variety of excellent oysters are bred. The boats employed 

 in dredging them are from 14 to 30 or 40 tons ; the fitting out 

 one of 20 tons will require 1 50/. Of these vessels there are 

 upwards of 200 now employed, and above 500 men and boys. 

 The quantity of oysters taken in a season is supposed to be 

 above 20,000 bushels, which are chiefly disposed of in Lon- 

 don ; but they are also sent to Hamburgh, Bremen, Holland, 

 France, and Flanders. * So important, indeed, are the oyster- 

 fisheries of Britain, that they have long been an object of 

 attention to the legislature ; and they are regulated by a Court 

 of Admiralty. In the month of May, the fishermen are al- 

 lowed to take the oysters, in order to separate the spawn from 

 the cultch f, the latter of which is thrown back, to preserve the 

 bed for the future. After this month it is felony to carry away 

 the cultch, and punishable to take any oyster, unless, when 

 closed, a shilling will rattle between its valves. The spawn is 

 then deposited in beds or layers formed for the purpose, and 

 furnished with sluices, through which, at the springtides, the 

 water is suffered to flow. This water, being stagnant, soon 

 becomes green in warm weather; and, in a short time, the 

 oysters acquire the same tinge, which renders them of greater 

 value in the market. Three years, at least, are required to 

 bring them to a marketable state ; and the longer they remain, 

 the more fat and delicate they become. J Those artificial 

 beds, as Pliny informs us, were invented by one Sergius 

 Arata, and first established on the Lucrine Lake, a. u. 660 ; 

 and, from some circumstances mentioned by the naturalist, we 

 may infer that the said Sergius was no loser by the specula- 

 tion. In Scotland we have none of them, but eat our oysters 

 just as they are brought from their native rocks ; and though 



* Edin. Encyclopaedia,, art. Essex. 



f By this term are meant the stones, gravel, old shells, &c., to which the 

 spawn adheres ; and the reason for punishing its destruction is, that, when 

 taken away, the ooze increases, and muscles and cockles breed on the bed, 

 and destroy the oysters, gradually occupying all the places on which the 

 spawn should be cast. 



X See Pennant's Brit. Zoology, vol. iv. p. 227., &c. ; Bingley's Animal 

 Biography," art. Oyster; and Thomson's Annals of Philosophy for January, 

 1818, p. 70. 



