128 POPULAR CONCHOLOGY. 



delicious ; they are small, and cover the lower 

 branches of the mangroves. Two or three 

 of these branches form an ample luncheon, and 

 in the river Gaboon we had a daily supply." 

 In the British Museum, there is a large spe- 

 cimen of a crab, to the back and claws of which 

 a number of good-sized oysters have attached 

 themselves. 



Oysters generally spawn in May, and their 

 growth is tolerably rapid ; three days after the 

 deposition of the spawn, the shell of the young 

 oyster may be seen nearly a quarter of an inch 

 broad ; in three months it is larger than a shil- 

 ling, and in six months it exceeds a half-crown 

 piece in size. Oysters have been used as food 

 almost from time immemorial ; the Greeks, but 

 more especially the Romans, held them in great 

 estimation, those from the Dardanelles, Venice, 

 and England being considered the best. The 

 English fishery is principally carried on at 

 Wivenhoe, near Colchester, Feversham and 

 Milton in Kent, in the Medway, and at Tenby 

 in Wales. When the oyster is first taken out 

 of the sea, it has frequently a strong muddy 

 taste, and it is therefore placed in what is called 



