66 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



of what has been written or spoken about the life and 

 habits of the 'breedy creature.' Every stage of its growth 

 has been made the stand-point for a wrangle of some kind. 

 As an example of the keenness with which each stage of 

 oyster life is now being discussed, I may mention that 

 some years ago a most amusing squabble broke out in the 

 pages of the Field newspaper on an immaterial point of 

 oyster life, which is worth noting here as an example of 

 what can be said on either side of a question. 



" The controversy hinged upon whether an oyster while 

 on the bed lay on the flat or convex side. Mr. Frank 

 Buckland, who originated the dispute, maintained that the 

 right, proper, and natural position of the oyster, when at 

 the bottom of the sea, is with the flat shell downwards ; 

 but the natural position of the oyster is of no practical 

 importance whatever ; and I know, from personal observa- 

 tion of the beds at Newhaven and Cocke,nzie, that oysters 

 lie both ways, indeed, with a dozen or two of dredges 

 tearing over the beds it is impossible but that they must 

 lie quite higgledy-piggledy, so to speak. A great deal 

 that is incidentally interesting was brought up in the Field 

 discussion. 



" There have been several other disputes about points 

 in the natural history of the oysters one in particular as to 

 whether that animal is provided with organs of vision. 

 Various opinions have been enunciated as to whether an 

 oyster has eyes, and one author asserts that it has so many 

 as twenty-four, which again is denied, and the assertion 

 made that the so-called eyes projecting from the border of 

 the mantle have no optical power whatever ; but, be that 

 as it may, the oyster has a power of knowing the light from 

 the dark." (V) 



(6) " The Harvest of the Sea," p. 232. 



