The Oyster. rig 
quite a host of them, no doubt magnificently 
dressed, if we could but see them to advantage, and 
well instructed in the several duties which they have 
to perform. Oh yes, certainly, as the Irish poet has 
said, 
* Of all the Conchiferous shell-fish, 
The Oyster is surely the King.” 
Shall we continue the quotation? and say 
“ Arrah Mick, call the people who sell fish, 
And tell them a dozen to bring; 
For it’s I that intend to demonstrate, 
The creature’s phenomena strange, 
Its functions to set every one straight, 
And exhibit their structure and range.” 
Scarcely will our limited space permit us to do 
this, but a few of the most remarkable particulars 
about this common Acephalan, we feel called upon 
to set before our readers. 
First, then, it belongs to the class Conchifera. 
This is a word which we must stop to examine a 
little; it seems to come from the Latin concha, 
which means a shell-fish with two shells—in other 
words, a bivalve mollusk. Second, our Oyster be- 
longs to the class Pectinide. Now pecten is the 
Latin for a comb, and this class includes those 
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