64 JOURNAL OF THE [March, 



little mellow, it will generate nitrogen, and that will quicken the 

 breeding of infusoria. When, by microscopical examination, I 

 find that this food-supply is getting low, I transfer Hippie to one 

 of the large jars ; and, if that gives out, I place her in the other 

 jar. By this time the larder at home is resupplied, and the 

 little creature is restored to her proper place. 



So far we have got along without much technical discourse. 

 As I must note the leading kinds, or species, of oysters, we 

 must resort to a few scientific names. In the extreme South 

 there is a long narrow oyster called the strap oyster, and, by the 

 negroes, coon-heel. In southern New Jersey, in the mouth of 

 the Delaware, on the crowded beds, the oysters, for want of 

 room, will grow standing on their heads ; hence they elongate. 

 These are known as stickups. But these and some other forms 

 are but variations of our common oyster along the entire eastern 

 coast-line, and are all one species known as Ostrea Virginiana. 

 Europe has three species. The one common to England and 

 France, and some otlier places on the Continent, is O. edulis. 

 On reaching Italy we find the little oyster known as O. plicatula. 

 You have heard of that greediest Roman of them all, that im- 

 perial gourmand Vitellius, who ate a thousand oysters at a sit- 

 ting, and who, after having the royal fauces tickled with a 

 feather by a slave, would disburden his stomach, then fill it 

 afresh. Perhaps the transaction was possible with the little 

 Plicatula. But what about such specimens as the Virginiana, 

 which Mr. Thackeray was invited to grapple with in Fulton 

 Market ? Three individuals filled his plate. Said an English 

 lady to whom he was relating his experience : " Why, Mr. 

 Thackeray, what were your feelings ?" " Well, I felt, in attack- 

 ing but one of them, that it was like trying to swallow a baby." 

 A thousand "Virginias " would have been trying to the vitals of 

 Vitellius. The fourth oyster to be mentioned is the one whose 

 original home seems to be the Tagus, in Portugal. This species 

 is Ostrea angulata. It is said to be the one whose shells were 

 used in the ostracism, or vote of banishment, in ancient Greece. 



The four species mentioned are all that have any place in 

 commerce. The oyster native to France, Northern Europe, and 

 England, is the O. edulis. This species, and the Italian, O. plicat- 

 ula., are hermaphrodite, or bisexual, while the Portuguese, 

 O. angulata., and the American, 0. Virginiana, are unisexual. 



