72 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



delight and astonish us ; as the spider, when spinning its 

 web on the garden wall with admirable precision ; or the 

 bees, in all the economy of the hive, subject as they are 

 to the authority of a queenly presence, from which, like 

 the attendants of a court, no one retires except by a back- 

 ward movement. 



If, however, there are tribes of beings far superior to 

 the oyster, it is still fully prepared for the condition it is 

 destined to occupy. Its internal structure is admirably 

 perfect, and, however regarded, it is obviously suited to a 

 passive life. A creature designed for locomotion has 

 evidences of existing things, sometimes to supply its wants, 

 and at others to apprise it of danger ; but of these the 

 oyster is destitute, for, being destined to rely entirely on 

 its fixed resources, any other powers would tantalise it in 

 vain. 



The body occupies the great concavity of the under 

 shell, presenting to view a squared margin, opposite to the 

 hinge, and a projecting margin along its two sides. The 

 surfaces of the bodv have a lacework of fat when the 



j 



oyster is in s:ood condition. The marginal borders, 



j 



proceeding alike from the upper and under surfaces, are 

 gradually extended as they advance towards the edges of 

 the shells, and they form the outline of those extended 

 membranes to which the names of the pallium, the cover- 

 let, and the mantle have been given. 



That a clear idea may be formed of this very 

 remarkable portion of the oyster, it may be still further 

 observed, that if one of these creatures be placed with its 

 convex shell downwards, and having the hinge next the 

 observer, the right and left sides will then be determined, (c] 



(c] This is a vexatious point, and has been, and still is a matter of 



dispute amongst naturalists. 



