THE OTSTEE. 43 



Aceplialan, 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 

 belongs to the class Pectinidce. Xow pccien is the Latin for 

 a comb, and this class includes those bivalve shells whose 

 edges are toothed, or, as it is said, pectinated; in the scallop 

 and the cockle shells this peculiarity is more observable than 

 in those of other members of the class, and these form the 

 typical, or so to speak, pattern genus, pecten. Thirdly, the 

 Common Oyster is a Monomf/a nan Conchifer. Ah! that's some- 

 thing like a name for the accphaloid monarch I Look at these 

 two words, mono-myarian, di-myarian, you know of course 

 that mony-syllable means one syllable, and dis-syllable means 

 two. You sometimes hear of a person who leads a monotonous 

 life, and you think perhaps of the Oyster shut up in his 

 shell all alone, one by himself; this notion you now know to 

 be a false one; although it is true that he has but one ab- 

 ductor muscle, and therefore belongs to the division of the 

 Pectinidce family called Jfonomyan'a, while the Pearl Oyster 

 has two, and therefore belongs to that termed Dimyaria. If, 

 as they say, there is reason in the roasting of eggs, surely 

 there must be in the names given to the classes and divisions 

 of shells. ^Ve hope to have succeeded in making the why 

 and the wherefore in this case somewhat plain; — one — two — 

 and away we go out of this maze of hard names. But what 

 about the abductor muscle, above spoken of? well, this must 

 be explained; ahduce, coming from the Latin ahduco, means to 

 separate, to draw away, hence we have ahduction. Dui'ing the 

 life of an Oyster, the usual and natural state of the shell is 

 that of being kept open for a little distance, to allow the 

 water necessary for its nourishment and respiration to flow in 

 and out; but as a security against danger, it was necessary 

 to furnish the animal with the means of rapidly closing the 

 shell, and retaining the valves in a closed state. These actions 

 being only occasional, yet requiring considerable force, are 

 effected by means of a muscular power, for which purpose 

 one or two, or sometimes more strong muscles are placed be- 

 tween the valves, their fibres passing directly across fi'om the 



