76 Beautiful Shells. 
first we stumble upon is Colossus, which comes from 
the Latin, and means a great image or statue, like 
that which ancient historians tell us once bestrode 
the entrance to the harbour of Rhodes. Hmbryo 
comes from the Greek, and means something small 
and unfinished, that is to expand or grow into a 
more perfect form, as the seed into a plant. An- 
malcule, are minute or very small animals, such 
as cannot be distinguished without the help of a 
microscope, hence they are sometimes called micro- 
scopic animals; this word comes from the Latin 
animalis, which means having life. Phosphoric 
signifies luminous, or giving out light. The Greek 
name of the morning star is Phospha. In Latin, 
Phosphorus is a term applied to a substance which 
chemists extract from bones and other animal 
matter, and which, when exposed to air, burns with 
a pale blue light, like that emitted by the glow- 
worm. Many of the oceanic or sea animalcule are 
exceedingly phosphorescent, so that by night the 
waves appear like billows of flame. Of this lumi- 
nosity of the ocean, as it is termed, we shall have to 
speak on another occasion. We will now return to 
the Oyster, who, it will be seen, is by no means soa 
solitary in his bivalve palace as might be supposed. 
He has his torch-bearers, and other attendants, 
