CONCHIFEKA. 



319 



branches form an ample luncheon, and in the river Gaboon 

 we had a daily supply." In the British Museum there is 

 a large specimen of a crab, to the back and claws of which 

 a number of good-sized oysters have attached themselves. 

 The author has a specimen in her cabinet formed of two 

 young oysters, each about the size of a shilling, protrud- 

 ing like wings from the aperture of a periwinkle shell ; 

 they are very firmly attached, but still there is sufficient 

 room for the play of the upper valves of both. 



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 shilling, 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 a preserve, which is a kind of tank dug in the sand 

 near the sea, and communicating with it by a narrow 

 passage ; this place is frequently cleared of mud and dirt 

 by letting the water run off and refilling it ; by this means 

 the quality of the oyster is much improved. They are 

 not considered wholesome during May, June, July, and 

 August, and are not eaten until they are one year and a 

 half old. 



The animal of the oyster appears to be one of the most 

 inanimate of the Mollusca ; it remains fixed upon a rock, 

 or other submarine object, enjoying only the nourishment 



