CHAPTER X. 



RELATIVES OF THE OYSTER. 



ANTIQUITY OF THE OYSTER AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD STRUCTURE 

 OF THE GLOBE FOSSIL OYSTERS OYSTER BANKS OF GEORGIA 

 OYSTERS IN CHALK SHELL-MOUNDS IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, 

 IRELAND, AMERICA, FRANCE, CORSICA, &C. SHIELD-BEARING 

 ANIMALCULES COMPARISON BETWEEN THE MICROSCOPE AND 

 THE TELESCOPE. 



" I WEIGH my words well when I assert, that the man who 

 should know the true history of the bit of chalk which 

 every carpenter carries about in his breeches-pocket, 

 though ignorant of all other history, is likely, if he will 

 think his knowledge out to its ultimate results, to have a 

 truer, and therefore a better, conception of this wonderful 

 universe, and of man's relation to it, than the most learned 

 student who is deep-read in the records of humanity and 

 ignorant of those of Nature." -" On a piece of Chalk," 

 Professor Huxley. 



For centuries the oyster has held a prominent place 

 amongst the delicacies of the table, in antiquity as well as 

 in modern society. From the abundance of oyster-shells, 

 together with flint knives and other stone implements, 

 found in the "kitchen-middens' of Denmark, it is evi- 

 dent that the men of the stone-age consumed large quan- 

 tities of this animal. 



