Opening Oysters.

There is one point about the oyster that must have struck anyone who has tried for the first time to open one, and that is the enormous tenacity with which it is able to resist the human enemy's attack and remain closed, and yet so easily opens at its own sweet will. Dr. Brooks clearly explains this power by reference to the inanimate ligament wedged in between the two shells near the narrow hinged end, which acts like a piece of india-rubber. When the shells are forcibly closed by the oyster's living adductor muscle the ligament is squeezed, and expands again when it is released. The ligament is formed, like the shell itself, by an accretion from the living tissues of the oyster, and its action is not under the control of the animal. It keeps the shell open at all times, unless it is counteracted, and for this reason an oyster at rest and undisturbed, or a dead oyster, always has its shell open. This adductor muscle is made up of a bundle of contractile fibres, which run across the body between the shells, and are fastened to their inner surfaces over the dark-coloured spots which are seen on empty oyster shells.

To those who are not deeply versed in the natural history of the oyster, but are disposed to increase the knowledge of it that they already possess, I venture to recommend them to read "The Oyster," by Dr. W. K. Brooks, which he describes most truly as a popular summary of a scientific study, but on whose valuable work it is not possible to draw further here.

Oyster Spawn.

The spawn is emitted from the oyster in immense quantities, like a puff of smoke, estimated variously to contain from 800,000 to some millions of organisms, of which very few indeed ever reach maturity, which, perhaps, is just as well for some of the other inhabitants of the sea.

The spawn, or spat, is at first white and apparently lifeless, turns grey and then black, at which last stage it visibly springs to life. The spat floats in the water for a few days, and, if it he not carried out to sea, nor killed by cold, nor swallowed by fish, it falls to the bottom to anchor itself by a sticky substance with which it is provided, like all bivalves that require attachment, to a shell or the side of some other hard substance, to which the general term "cultch" is applied. Thus early the oyster endeavours to secure a position in life, where it is least likely to run the risk of being smothered by sand during a rough sea, or otherwise destroyed at once, as it probably would be, if it settled on the top of its anchor shell, stone, tile, or other object. It settles, too, with its deep or left shell uppermost, the flat or right shell being next the ground to insure steadiness, as well as to enable the oyster to eject sand or grit, which it could not do so well if lying the deep shell 4ownwards. Also, adhering by the deep shell, it is able more easily to drop off the cultch, which it is known to be able to do in springtime, when the growth takes place, as with trees and plants.

Dredgers are most careful to return all cultch to the water, and even when empty oyster shells, still adhering at the hinge, called "clocks," are dredged up, they have strict orders to "part the clocks" before throwing them overboard.

The tint of the oyster shell, like many other living things, matches the prevailing colour of its surroundings to avoid attracting attention, which was probably not the object in view of a Court dressmaker, who recently produced a costume described as made of "oyster satin pompadour brocade." If the spat falls on the mud it perishes at once, if on weed it perishes with the weed but if it falls on a clean bottom of cultch, it adheres to the hard substance and there grows. Oysters are not improved by being kept in tubs of fresh water, as they are sometimes by the oyster merchant. They can be kept much better in a cool place, by being laid out, deep shell downwards, in order that the "juice," as it is called, may not run out, and they are even said to improve in substance and flavour by that means.

The Three Ages of the Oyster.

The oyster, on attaining a separate existence, goes through the several stages of spat, brood, halfware and ware, or oyster, a year marking each stage. At six, or better still, seven years of age, the oyster has reached perfection for the epicure. The suitable temperature of the sea during spawning time has been found to be 62 degrees fahrenheit.

The oyster usually spawns in April or May at the age of three years, and is said to be sick until the end of July, and to be in prime condition by September. As an instance that the oyster sometimes disregards these periods it may be mentioned that one opened on the 1st November, 1900, at Herne Bay, was about to spawn.

By the Fisheries (Oyster, Crab, and Lobster) Act, 1877, a close-time for the dredging and sale of "deep sea oysters" is fixed from the 15th June to 4th August, and for all other kinds of oysters from 14th of May to 4th August, except oysters taken in the waters of a foreign state. Foreign oysters, temporarily deposited on English beds for purposes of storage only, do not come within this close-time regulation. This Act applies to England and Scotland, but not to Ireland, which, under another Act, has a close-time from 1st May to 1st September, except where the dates are varied by the inspectors of fisheries. The Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company voluntarily extends the close-time for natives till "Partridge Day," the 1st of September.

The customary observance of a close-time for native oysters, chiefly in order that spawning may not be interfered with, has given rise to the popular impression that oysters should only be eaten in the months which have an R in their composition, though this rule does not affect foreign oysters, which can be obtained all the year round. When the "brood" stage has been reached, or at a later period, the oyster can be dredged up from the flats to which it has wandered, and be removed to other grounds better adapted for fattening.

In 1896 the Company were favoured by a heavy spat of which they are now beginning to reap the advantage, and in the year 1900 again the spat was plentiful, causing an experienced diver, who descended quite recently to report on damage alleged to be done by a Norwegian barque, which dragged her anchor in a gale of wind and grounded on the beds, to remark that "it looked a regular Klondike," so plentiful were the oysters and spat he observed.