The Oyster. 87 
This is the M. Margaritifera of naturalists, the mol- 
lusk in whose shells pearls are chiefly found. Here 
are two long words; Meleagris is the Latin for a 
Guinea or Turkey Hen, to the markings of whose 
plumage naturalists might have imagined the shells 
of this genus bore some resemblance. There was, 
says the mythology, a celebrated hero of antiquity 
named Meleaga, but we can hardly suppose that 
there is any association between his name and 
that of a genus of Oysters, of which edible we 
read the ancients were very fond, and they are 
said to have had a fancy, not only for the mol- 
lusk itself, but also for the pearls found in its 
shell, which at their luxurious banquets they dis- 
solved in wine, to make the draughts richer, or, at 
all events, more expensive; and this brings us to 
the specific name of the Pearl Oyster, Margaritifera, 
which comes from the Latin Margarita—a pearl ; 
the French use this word slightly altered in the 
spelling (thus, Marguerite) for both a daisy and 
A PEARL. 
This jewel, so highly valued for its chaste beauty, 
is but a secretion of animal matter, resulting from 
the efforts of some uneasy mollusk, annoyed by a 
foreign substance, which has found its way into his 
