The Oyster. 7o 
at the idea of the solitary Oyster doing this, down 
there on his mud bank or rocky anchorage ground, 
shut up in his dirty-looking shells, and holding, as 
it seems, commune with no one, not even his fellow- 
mollusks ; how can he be said to live in royal 
state, or, indeed, any state at all, except in a most 
weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable one? And this 
only shows how erroneously those often judge who 
do so hastily, and from first appearances. 
If we take a peep through a microscope, under 
the direction of a naturalist named Rymer Jones, 
we shall see that “ the shell of an Oyster is a world 
occupied by an innumerable quantity of animals, 
compared to which the Oyster itself is a colossus. 
The liquid enclosed between the shell of the Oyster 
contains a multitude of embryos, covered with 
transparent scales, which swim with ease; a hun- 
dred and twenty of these embryos, placed side by 
side, would make an inch in breadth. ‘This liquid 
contains besides, a great variety of animalculz, five 
hundred times less in size, which give out a phos- 
phoric light. Yet these are not the only inhabi- 
tants of this dwelling—there are also three distinct 
species of worms.” 
Let us see if there are any hard names here that 
want explaining before we go any further. The 
