OSTREAD^.— OYSTEU. 
81 
busliel ; old royals, pearls, and Cheyney rocks, 305. ; 
other kinds averaging from 125. ^d. to 145., according 
to the quality. The shells of the native and rock oyster 
vary much, though they are only varieties of the same 
species, the shells of the latter being far more beauti- 
fully sculptured and coloured, though coarser and more 
rugged. 
In the Bay of Cadiz, Ostrea Virginica is eaten when 
very small, but the poor people eat it full-size, viz. ten 
inches long. This species lives in the salt mud of the 
Guadalete, and is called ostione ; other oysters are called 
odras. The river is said to be salt three leagues from 
its mouth. 
A Frenchman at Puerto St. Maria breeds oysters for 
the Madrid market, but they are slimy, and not to be 
compared with the English oysters, though they are said 
to be good when cooked; and Major Byng Hall* states 
that at Madrid, oysters-^not fine ones — cost twopence 
halfpenny (that is, I suppose, one real) each ; but this 
is not very remarkable, when in 1865 natives cost two- 
pence, and Whitstable oysters three-halfpence each, in 
London, the very land of oysters, so scarce had these 
fish become. 
The Tarentines declare that oysters are fattest during 
the full moon, and they are also fully persuaded that the 
moonbeams have a pernicious effect upon sea-fish ; 
therefore they cover over fish taken by moonlight, lest 
they should decompose. 
The American oyster, Odrea Virginica, is much larger 
than the English, and differs from it both in taste and 
appearance. Four or six of them broiled are sufiicient 
for a meal. Mr. Nichols, in his ^ Forty Years in . 
* ^ The Queen’s Messenger/ p. 341. ■ ' 
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