"Please remember the Grotter."

Another point which will not escape a stranger's attention, is the absence of empty oyster shells, which might be expected in some abundance where oyster cultivation is the chief industry. The children, of course, find a use for some in the construction of grottoes, which they illuminate at night with a piece of candle, generally on the first of August.

Probably few people remember the origin of the old street petition, " Please remember the grotter " The children who give utterance to it do so without much refer­ence to its appropriate day, which should really be the Festival of St. James, on the 25th July. The legend runs that when the remains of that holy man were being brought from Palestine to Spain, of which country he was the patron saint, a knight and his horse fell overboard. The knight was saved without his horse, and, on being rescued, the knight's clothes were covered with clinging oysters. This miracle, associated with the presence of the body of the saint, was the origin of the oyster grotto.

However that may have been, and, although the incident did not occur in these parts, there is much that is ancient and full of an old-time interest, about the occupation of the oyster dredgers and flatsmen of Whitstable and for the rest, there is much scope for thought in the practical details of a fishery which is, in some respects, unique. and on which modern skill and science have had so little effect.

The following notes have not been put together with a view to the scientific treatment of a deeply interesting subject, on which there are already many books of zoological value. Moreover they contain references to a few things having hut a remote connection with their tide, though perhaps not less attractive to the general reader, especially to those who live on the east coast of Kent, and others who go there for rest and change. It may, perhaps, be fair to say that they are an attempt to describe a thoroughly English marine industry of which so little is really known. Such notes must almost of necessity have somewhat of a mosaic effect; but even as mosaic work, viewed by a comprehensive eve has a distinct charm, so the collection and preservation of various fragmentary notes, which otherwise might escape notice, may possibly be worth publishing.

The number of English people who have never heard of the Whitstable oyster must he very limited, though the actual enjoyment of that seductive bivalve is preserved for a comparatively few people, for lack of opportunity or some other reason. It is very rare, however, to meet anyone who does not at once seem interested when the subject is mentioned. The mysteriously attractive flavour of a good oyster and its almost inexplicable effect on the palate, the romantic nature of its production, cultivation, and collection, create pleasurable impressions on the mind, which a greater familiarity only serves to increase.

The general public, who may only revere the "native" at a distance, and even those, and they are many, who will never sharpen or satisfy their appetites with any other oyster than the one which hails from Whitstable, possibly have but a vague knowledge of the natural history and habits of their favourite bivalve, or of its old association with this little town, in spite of the paragraphs which appear in the daily papers annually, about the time that English oysters come into season.