70 
EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 
found at Cyzicus^ a town in Asia Minor^* on the shores 
of the Sea of Marmora, the ruins now called by the 
Turks, Bal Kiz. He describes them as larger than 
those of Lake Lucrinus; fresher than those of the 
British coasts; sweeter than those of Medulse (the dis- 
trict in the vicinity of Bordeaux, now called Medoc) ; 
more tasty than those of Ephesus ; more plump than 
those of Lucus ; less slimy than those of Coryphas (a 
town of Mysia, opposite Lesbos) ; more delicate than 
those of Istria, and whiter than those of Circeii (a town 
of Latium). Pliny mentions that according to the his- 
torians of Alexander's expedition, oysters were found in 
the Indian Sea a foot in diameter, f and Sir James E. 
Tennent unexpectedly attested the correctness of this 
statement, as at Kottiar, near Trincomalee, enormous 
specimens of the edible oysters were brought to the rest- 
house. One shell measured more than eleven inches in 
length, by half as many broad. J 
The Greeks preferred the oysters of Abydos, and 
Archestratus, in his Gastronomy,^ says 
“ ^nus has mussels fine | Abydus too 
Is famous for its oysters ; Parium produces 
Crabs, the bears of the sea, and Mitylene periwinkles | 
Ambracia in all kinds of fish abounds, 
And the boar-fish sends forth 5 and in its narrow strait 
Messene cherishes the largest cockles. 
In Ephesus you shall catch chemse, which are not bad, 
And Chalcedon will give you oysters.’ 
Great Britain is still celebrated for its oysters, and 
large artificial beds are formed for the better rearing and 
breeding of these shellfish, besides the natural oyster- 
* See Pliny, voL vi. bk. xxxii. ch. 21 (6). 
t Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. xxxii. chap. 21 (6). 
J See note, Nat. Hist. Ceylon, p. S71. 
§ ‘ The Deipnosophists,’ voL i. bk. iii. p. 164. 
