Chap. IV. CONCH 
baskets, and in tills ftate brought to table, where they 
are either eaten raw, or roafted, as the European oyf- 
ter. We have eaten oy fliers which were produced in 
this way, in the lagoons at the head of Port Morant 
harbour in Jamaica, a few minutes after they were ta- 
ken from the water. They were of a fmall fize, but 
extremely delicate and high flavoured. 
Britain has been noted for oyfters from the time of 
Juvenal, who, fatirizing Montanus an epicure, fays, 
— Circceis nata forent , an 
Lucrinum ad faxnm, Rutnpinove edit a f undo, 
OJlrea, callebat primo deprendere morju. 
He, whether Circe’s rock his oyfters bore, 
Or Lucrine lake, or diftant Richborough’s fliore, 
Knew at firft tafte. 
The luxurious Romans were very fond of this fi(h, 
and had their layers or flews for oyfters as we have at 
prafent. Sergius Grata was the firfl inventor, as early 
Pennant's as the time of L. Craffus the orator. He did not make 
Brit. Zoo/. t hem for the fake of indulging his appetite, but through 
vot 1V - aV arice, and made great profits from them. Orata got 
P ' 1QI ' great credit for his Lucrine 'oyfters ; for, fays Pliny, 
the Britifh were not then known. 
The ancients ate them raw, having them carried up 
unopened, and generally eating them at the beginning 
of the entertainment, but fometimes roafted. They 
alfo Hewed them with mallows and ducks, or with 
4t filh. 
Oyfters of Britain ftill retains its fuperiority in oyfters over 
■Britain. other countries. Moll of our coafts produce them 
naturally •, and in fuch places they are taken by dredg- 
ing, and are become an article of commerce, both raw 
and 5 pickled. The (hells calcined are employed in me- 
dicine as an abforbent, and in common with other (hells, 
prove an excellent manure. 
Stews or layers of oyfters are formed in places 
which nature never allotted as habitations for them. 
Thofe near Colchefter have been long famous ; at pre- 
fent there are others that at lead rival the former, near 
the mouth of the Thames. The oyfters, or their fpats, 
are brought to convenient places, where they improve 
in tafte and fize. It is an error to fuppofe, that the 
line Preen obferved in oyfters taken from artificial beds, 
is owing to copper •, this fubftance, or the lolution of 
it, is deftru&ive to all fi(h. The following is the ac- 
count of the whole treatment of oyfters, from Bilhop 
Sprat’s Hiftory of the Royal Society, from p. 307 to 
309. 
“ In the month of May the oyfters caft their fpawn, 
(which the dredgers call their fpats ) : it is like to a 
drop of candle, and about the bignefs of a half- 
penny. The fpat cleaves to (tones, old oyfter-lliells, 
pieces of wood, and fuch like things, at the bottom 
of the fea, which they call cultch. It is probably 
conjectured, that the fpat in 24 hours begins to have 
a (hell. In the month of May, the dredgers (by the 
law of the admiralty court) have liberty to catch all 
manner of oyfters, of what fize foever. When they 
have taken them, with a knife they gently raife the 
fmall brood from the cultch, and then they throw 
the cultch in again, to preferve the ground for the 
future, unlefs they be fo newly fpat, that they can- 
not be fafely fevered from the cultch ; in that cafe 
they are permitted to take the ftone or (hell, &c. that 
Vol. VI. Part II. 
O L O G Y,. 
the fpat is upon, one (hell having many times 2 <5 
fpats. After the month of May, it is felony to carry 
away the eultcli, and punifhable to take any other 
oyfters, unlefs it be thofe of fize, (that is to fay) about 
the bignefs of a half-crown piece, or when, the two 
(hells being (hut, a fair (hilling will rattle between 
them. 
“ The places where thefe oyfters are chiefly catch- 
ed, are called the Pent-Burnham, Malden , and Colne- 
•waters; the latter taking its name from the river of 
Colne, which paffeih by Colchefter, gives name to 
that town, and runs into a creek of the fca, at a 
place called the Hijthe , being the fuburbs of the 
town. This brood and other oyfters they carry to 
the creeks of the fea, at Bricklefea, Merfy, Langno, 
Fingrego, Wivenho, Tole.Ibury, and Saltcoafe, and 
there throw them into the channel, which they call 
their beds or layers , where they grow and fatten ; and 
in two or three years the fmalleft brood will be oyfters 
of the (ize aforeiaid. Thofe oyfters which they, would 
have green, they put into pits about three feet deep , 
in the fait marihes, which are overflowed only at 
(pring-tides, to which they have (luices, and let out 
the fait water until it is about a foot and a half deep. 
Thefe pits from fome quality in the foil co-operating 
with the heat of the fun, will become green, and 
communicate their colour to the oyfters that are put 
into them in four or five days, though they commonly 
let them continue there fix weeks or two months, in 
which time they will be of a dark green. To prove 
that the fun operates in the greening, Tolefbury pits 
will green only in fummer ; but that the earth hath 
the greater power, Bricklefea pits green both winter 
and famrner : and for a further proof, a pit within 
a foot of a greening pit will not green ; and thofe 
that did green very well, will in time lofe their qua- 
lity. The oyfters, when the tide comes in, lie with 
their hollow (hell downwards ; and when it goes out, 
they turn on the other fide \ they remove not far from 
their place, unlefs in cold weather, to cover themfelves 
in the oofe. The reafon of the fcarcity of oyfters, 
and confequently of their dearnefs, is, becaufe they 
are of late years bought up by the Ducth. 
“ There are great penalties by the admiralty court 
laid upon thofe that fi(h out of thofe grounds which 
the court appoints, or that dellroy the cultch, or that 
take any oyfters that are not of fize, or that do not 
tread under their feet, or throw upon the (hore, a filh 
which they call a five-finger , refembling a fpur-rowl, 
becaufe that filh gets into the oyfters when they gape, 
and fucks them out. 
“ The reafon that fuch a penalty is fet upon any 
that (hall deftroy the cultch, is, becaufe they find 
that if that be taken away, the oofe will increafe, 
and the mufcles and cockles will breed there, and de- 
ftroy the oyfters, they having not whereon to ftick 
their fpat. 
“ The oyfters are fick after they have fpat ; but in 
.Tune and July they begin to mend, and in Auguft 
they are perfectly well ; the male oyfter is black-lick, 
having a black fubftance in the fin 5 the female white- 
lick (as they term it), having a milky fubftance in the 
fin. They are fait in the pits, falter in the layers, but 
falteft at fea.” 
The oyfter affords the curious in microfcopic obfer- 
3 G vations 
