80 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



which, experience has shown that they lose their copper, 

 salt, and bad taste. A Marennes fisherman, whose trade 

 was not very extensive, procured a few thousand oysters 

 from Falmouth, and, out of thirst for gain, he sent them 

 off to Rocliefort before they had sojourned more than 

 three weeks in the beds set apart for their purification.* 

 These oysters caused alarming symptoms, and M. Cu- 

 zent, being called upon to test them, as they had been 

 seized in the market at Rochefort, found copper in them, 

 the quantity being about 23 centigrammes per dozen 

 oysters. I have elsewhere given an account of the find- 

 ing of copper in the Falmouth oysters ; one of the tests 

 used by M. Cuzent was so very simple, that any one 

 might discover the presence of copper. It is as follows : 

 — An ordinary needle is thrust into the green part of 

 the oyster, and then the moUusk was immersed in pure 

 vinegar. When copper was present, thirty seconds suf- 

 ficed to cover the portion of the needle embedded in the 

 oyster with a red coating of copper.f 



The amount of shellfish consumed in Paris annually, 

 including lobsters, crayfish, oysters, etc., is immense. 

 Oysters are not packed in barrels, as nith us, but at the 

 restaurants and in the wine-shops are seen very shallow 

 baskets, in shape resembling a small shield, with a 

 thatching or wall of straw on either side, rising to the 

 height of a foot or a foot and a half, tied with string at 

 both ends and across the centre. These baskets contain 

 a hundred or more oysters, according to their size. 



In London, oysters are considered in season from the 



4th of August to January, and the natives especially 



from October to March. The following were the prices 



at Billingsgate, August 4th, 1864 : — Natives, 80s. per 



* ' Q-alignani's Mesaenger.' f 'Field,' Marcli 14th, 1863. 



