492 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



conjecture ; unless, as Dr. Johnston suggests, it be to 

 allure their prey, and perhaps to see 



" by their own radiant light." 



These Conchifera, like most others of our own 

 coasts, are usually full of spawn in the spring or at 

 the commencement of summer, a period which, as 

 relates to oysters, is kept sacred, as being the " close 

 season." Previous to their expulsion, the young may 

 be seen within a pellicle of jelly that encloses them, 

 opening and shutting their tiny valves, and moving 

 on their axes in a rotatory manner, as though prac- 

 tising their evolutions preparatory to their entrance 

 upon active existence. We use the term advisedly, 

 although perhaps some of our readers may smile at 

 the notion of activity in their case ; the fact, how- 

 ever, is as we state it ; for no sooner do the young 

 bivalves escape from their gelatinous cradles, than they 

 begin to swim about in countless multitudes, rolling, 

 tumbling, and darting to and fro, by means of ciliary 

 paddles, with which they are at this time abundantly 

 furnished, like so many insane steam-boats. Even the 

 very oyster gambols and frisks in its new-born enjoy- 

 ment of life ; the mussels roam about at freedom ; 

 the stone-boring Pholas and other excavating tribes 

 set off like schoolboys just released from school, in 

 search of distant rocks, wherein to locate their nu- 

 merous colonies ; and all disperse themselves as in- 

 stinct leads or chance directs, in search of fitting 

 residence ; some of them even swimming to consider- 

 able distances before they lose the locomotive faculty, 

 and settle down for life. 



