Class VI. OSTREx\. OYSTER. 227 



brought to convenient places, where they im- 

 prove in taste and size. It is an error to sup- 

 pose, that the fine green observed in oysters 

 taken from artificial beds, is ovving to copperas; 

 it being notorious how destructive the sub- 

 stance or the solution of it is to all fish. I 

 cannot give a better account of the cause, or 

 of the whole treatment of oysters, than what is 

 preserved in the learned Bishop Sprat's History . - 

 of the Royal Society, from p. 307 to 309. 



' In the month of Mai/ the oysters cast their 

 ^ spaun, (which the dredgers call their spats;) 

 ' it is like to a drop of candle, and about the 

 ' bigness of a halfpenny. 



' The spat cleaves to stones, old oyster- 

 ' shells, pieces of wood, and such-like things, 

 ^ at the bottom of the sea, which they call 

 ' cultch. 



' 'Tis probably conjectured, that the spat in 

 '' twenty-four hours begins to have a shell. 



' In the month of Mat/, the dredgers (by the 

 • law of the Admiralty court) have liberty to 

 " catch all manner of oysters, of what size 

 ■ soever. 



' When they have taken them, with a knife 

 '' they gently raise the small brood from the 

 ' cultch, and then they throw the cultch in 

 ' again, to preserve the ground for the future, 



Q 2 



