80 
EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 
which^ experience has shown that they lose their copper^ 
salt, and bad taste. A Marennes fisherman, whose trade ' 
was not very extensive, procured a few thousand oysters 
from Falmouth, and, out of thirst for gain, he sent them |j 
off to Rochefort before they had sojourned more than j 
three weeks in the beds set apart for their purification.* j 
These oysters caused alarming symptoms, and M. Cu- 
zent, being called upon to test them, as they had been j 
seized in the market at Rochefort, found copper in them, | 
the quantity being about 23 centigrammes per dozen I 
oysters. I have elsewhere given an account of the find- | 
ing of copper in the Falmouth oysters ; one of the tests | 
used by M. Cuzent was so very simple, that any one | 
might discover the presence of copper. It is as follows : 
— An ordinary needle is thrust into the green part of 
the oyster, and then the mollusk was immersed in pure 
vinegar. When copper was present, thirty seconds suf- 
ficed to cover the portion of the needle embedded in the 
oyster with a red coating of copper.f 
The amount of shellfish consumed in Paris annually, 
including lobsters, crayfish, oysters, etc., is immense. 
Oysters are not packed in barrels, as with us, but at the 
restaurants and in the wine-shops are seen very shallow 
baskets, in shape resembling a small shield, with a 
thatching or wall of straw on either side, rising to the 
height of a foot or a foot and a half, tied with string at 
both ends and across the centre. These baskets contain 
a hundred or more oysters, according to their size. 
In London, oysters are considered in season from the 
4th of August to January, and the natives especially 
from October to March. The following were the prices 
at Billingsgate, August 4th, 1864 -Natives, 80^. per 
* ‘ G-alignani’s Messenger.’ f ‘ Field,’ March 14th, 1863. 
