Of all the European oysters, the largest are those that are caught off the coast of Normandy, and with which Paris is principally supplied. But the best are of middle or somewhat small size, and are caught in the waters of Malden and Colne in Essex, or near the mouth of the Thames. They are dredged up by a net (with an iron scraper at the mouth) which is dragged by a rope from a boat over the beds; and then stored in large pits formed for the purpose, and furnished with sluices through which, at spring tides, the salt water is suffered to flow. In these pits they acquire their full quality, and become fit for the table in six or eight weeks. The most delicious oysters are considered to be those which are fattened in the salt-water creeks near Milton in Kent, and Colchester in Essex. Oysters are out of season during the summer-time, the period at which they deposit their spawn, and which commences in the month of April. Each spawn has the appearance of a drop of candle-grease, and adheres to rocks, stones, or other substances on which it happens to be deposited. In some oyster-beds, old shells, pieces of wood, &c. under the denomination of _cultch_, are purposely thrown in to receive the spawn. From these, in the month of May, the oyster-fishers are allowed to separate the spawn for the purpose of transferring it to other beds; but they are required, under certain penalties, to throw the cultch in again, that the beds may be preserved for the future; unless the spawn should be so small as not with safety to be separable from the cultch. Oysters are considered to be first fit for the table when about a year and half old; and they are among the few animals which in Europe are not merely eaten raw, but even in a living state. Oysters are also eaten cooked in various ways, as sauce to different kinds of fish, and pickled. The _shells_, like those of other testaceous animals, consist of calcareous earth in combination with animal glue; and, by calcination, they yield a pure kind of quick-lime. In this state they are not only useful as lime, but are also frequently employed by stationers and attorneys as pounce for rubbing upon parchment previously to its being written upon. 276. _The GREAT SCALLOP_ (Pecten maximus, Fig. 78) _is a testaceous animal with a double shell, flat on one side, and convex on the other, with about fourteen rounded ribs, which are longitudinally grooved, and a projection or ear on each side of the hinge._ _The shells, when full grown, are about five inches long, and six inches broad._ By some persons scallops are thought better eating than oysters; and the ancients held them in great esteem. In several parts of France they have the name of "Coquilles de Saint Jacques," from the Catholics who annually visit the shrine of St. James of Compostella, in Spain, placing the shells in their hats as a testimony of this pilgrimage. These shells are also worn by pilgrims to the Holy Land.