528 
MOLLTJSCA. 
nomadic state. From this people arose the mighty nation of Ostragoths ; from the Ostraphagi 
of ancient Britain came the custom of ostracism — that is, sending political delinquents to that 
place where they can get no more oysters." 
Thus the oyster has its literature, and however deficient in wit itself, it is certainly the occa- 
sion of wit in others. The positive history of this mollusk goes back to the refined Athenians, 
who held it in high esteem as dainty food. The Romans also prized it, and as early as the 
second century they had adopted the practice of cultivating it in beds. Great Britain, so re- 
markable for its other fisheries,^ excels all European countries in the production of oysters. 
They are found on most of the British and Irish shores, but those of Essex and Suffolk are es- 
teemed the best. There are numerous artificial beds, where immense quantities are fed and fat- 
tened. The oysters are of various sizes and qualities, owing to diff"erence of treatment and local- 
ity. Those on the coast of France, especially those of Dieppe, as well as many of the British 
oysters, have a greenish tinge, and also a coppery taste ; it has been supposed, therefore, that they 
were impregnated with copper. This has been shown to be a mistake : the green color is caused 
by the oysters feeding on minute plants called confervce, which grow in certain localities. The 
coppery taste is natural to the European species, and is esteemed a relishing quality to those 
who are accustomed to it. Americans are at first disgusted with it. In Europe the oyster is 
rarely cooked, but is served raw, it being esteemed not only more wholesome, but of higher 
relish in this condition. 
All the species of oysters are hermaphrodite, as is also the fact in respect to the conchifera, 
or bivalve mollusks, generally. With a microscope immense numbers of the young oysters, 
with their shells, may be discovered in the parents — three to five thousand in each. When 
produced these are called spats; when quite small, they are taken and placed in the planting 
beds ; in eighteen months they are fit for use. The spawning takes place in May, after which, 
for a time, the oysters are sick, and unfit for food. The young oyster usually fixes itself to 
some rock, and remains stationary for life ; some, however, are free. These can move by a 
power of contraction in the foot. Oysters breathe by means of branchia3 or gills. They draw 
the water in at their mouth, which is a small opening in the upper part of the body, drive 
it down a long canal that constitutes the base of the gills, and so out again, retaining the air for 
the necessary functions of the body. Thus their ejecting the water seems to serve the double 
purpose of aiding the motion of such as are free, and of supplying the animals with air. Oysters 
fix themselves on the left side, which is the deep or concave side of the shell ; in this manner 
they repose. The two shells, as in other bivalves, are connected by a powerful ligament, called 
the addiLctor muscle. By this they open and close the valves ; when the animal dies this muscle 
becomes relaxed, and the shells gape open. 
It is a question which often arises, how can the oysters, scallops, and other shell-fish which 
* There is nothing more remarkable in the natural condition of Great Britain than the amazing abundance of 
fighes which haunt its waters. Gosse says : " The amount they contribute to the public wealth is immense, and they 
are regulated, even in many minute details, by repeated enactments of solemn legislation. An enumeration of the 
species which form the objects of our fisheries is itself startling — the surmullet, gurnards of half a dozen kinds, sea- 
bream, mackerel, scad, dory, atherine, gray mullet of two kinds, gar-fish, salmon, herring, pilchard, shad, cod, had- 
dock, pout, whiting of two kinds, pollack, hake, ling, burbot, torsk, turbot, halibut, sole, flounder, plaice, dab, eels 
of three species, conger, thornback, skate of several kinds — are all taken in quantities and brought regularly to 
market, not to speak of many other kinds, such as perch, trout, char, pike, carp, tench, &c., which are taken 
for the table, chiefly from our rivers, or for individual amusement. The quantity of human food thus taken yearly 
from the water is enormous; an idea of it may be formed from the fact that of one species alone, and that a very 
local one, being confined to the western extremity of our island — the pilchard — ^the Cornwall fisheries yield twenty- 
one thousand hogsheads annually ! What, then, must be the produce of all the species above enumerated all round 
the indented coasts of Britain and Ireland ? We have no sufiicient data to determine the commercial value of British 
fisheries, but it has been estimated by Sir John Barrow at £8,300,000 per annum." 
To these we must add the British oyster-fisheries, which are probably equal to those of all the rest of Europe. In 
these marine products we find two of the principal sources — one physical and one moral — of the power of the United 
Kingdom ; the sea not only furnishes an immense amount of food to the inhabitants, but its fisheries train up 
thousands and tens of thousands to familiarity with the sea, who consequently carry the ships of their country over 
every portion of the world. Thus it is that the commerce of England is without limit; thus it is that the sun never 
sets upon her vast domains, including one-sixth of the habitable globe. Dr. Franklin said every man who draws a 
fish from the water, finds a piece of money : England has abundantly proved the truth of this apothegm. 
