OYSTER. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
A bivalve shell with a rough scaly coat and cartilaginous 
hinge. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Ostrea edulis. . O. testa semiorbiculata, merabranis imbri- 
catis undulatis ; valva altera plana integer- 
rima. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1 . p. 3334. 
A semiorbicular shell, with the outer coat 
Waved and imbricated; the other valve 
quite flat. 
Ostreum vulgare maximum. List. Anim. 
Angl. p. 176. pi. 4. f. 26 , 27. 
Common Oyster. Penn. Brit. Zool. 4. p. 102. no. 69. Da 
Cost. Brit. Conch . p. 154. pi. 11. f. 6. 
This well-known shell-fish is dredged up in vast 
abundance on the different coasts of this kingdom, 
and has long been celebrated as a delicious and nu- 
tritive food. The oysters of our shores were even 
in request among the Romans; and Juvenal, in 
satyrizing an epicure, describes his taste as suf- 
ficiently acute to discover those from Richborough 
by their flavour. 
In Bishop Sprat’s History of the Royal Society, 
we find the following account of the treatment of 
