Class VI. SHELLS. 105 



"« Tis probably conjectured, that the fpat in 

 « twenty-four hours begins to have a (hell. 



8 In the month of May, the dredgers (by the 



* law of the Admiralty court) have liberty to catch 

 ■" all manner of cyders, of what fize foever. 



* When they have taken them, with a knife 



* they gently raife the fmall brood from the cultch, 

 c and then they throw the cultch in again, to pre- 



* ferve the ground for the future, unlefs they be 

 c fo newly fpat, that they cannot be fafely fevered 

 i from the cultch ; in that cafe they are permitted 

 c to take the Hone or fhell, &c. that the fpat is 

 c upon, one fhell having many times twenty 

 c fpats. 



c After the month of May, it is felony to carry 

 < away the cultch, and punifhable to take any 



* other oyfters, unlefs it be thofe of fize, (that is 

 c to fay) about the bignefs of an half-crown piece, 

 c or when the two fhells being (hut, a fair milling 

 6 will rattle between them. 



c The places where thefe oyfters are chiefly 

 c catcht, are called the Pcnt-Bumharn, Maiden^ 

 c and Colne waters ; the latter taking its name 

 6 from the river of Colne, which paiTeth by Colne* 

 6 Chefter, gives the name to that town, and runs 

 4 into a creek of the fea, at a place called th^ 

 6 Hythe> being the fuburbs of the town. 



' This brood and other oyfters they carry to 

 c creeks of the fea, at Brickel-Sea^ Merfey, Langno, 



FingregG, 



