436 A DESCRIPTION OF 
THE COMMON OYSTER (Ostrea edtilis,) 
Has long been in favour with man for its delicacy as a 
kind of food ; the Lucrine lake used to be as much in 
renown among the Romans for the choicest kind of 
Oysters, as Cancalle Bay with the French, and the Col- 
chester beds with us. The two shells of the Oyster are 
generally unequal in size. The hinge is without teeth, 
but furnished with a somewhat oval cavity, and mostly 
with lateral transverse grooves. Oysters sometimes grow 
to a very large size ; in the East Indies they are said 
sometimes to measure nearly two feet in diameter. 
The principal breeding season of Oysters is in the 
months of April and May, when they cast their young, 
which are enveloped in slime, and in this state are called 
spats by the fishermen, upon rocks, stones, shells, or any 
other hard substance that happens to be near the place 
where they lie ; and to these the spats immediately ad- 
here. Till they obtain their film or crust, they are some- 
what like the end of a candle, but are of a greenish hue. 
The substances to which they adhere, of whatever nature, 
are called cultch. From the spawning time till about the 
end of July, the Oysters are said to be sick ; but by the 
end of August they become perfectly recovered. From 
May till August they are out of season, and unwholesome. 
The Oyster-fishery of our principal coasts is regulated by 
a court of admiralty. In the month of May the fishermen 
are allowed to take the Oysters, in order to separate the 
spawn from the cultch, the latter of which is thrown in 
again, for the purpose of preserving the bed for the 
future, After this month it is felony to carry away the 
cultch, and otherwise punishable to take any Oyster, be- 
tween whose shells, when closed, a shilling will rattle. 
The reason of the heavy penalty on destroying the cultch 
is, that when this is taken away, muscles and cockles will 
