46 THE OYSTEE. 



in which position, if not violently detached or removed, they 

 complete their growth, and live out the term of their natural 

 life. Their food is minute animalcula?, and microscopic vege- 

 tation, on the nature of which their flavour greatly depends. 



They have many enemies besides man; the whelk, and the 

 crab, the sea-star, or "five fingers," and the large drum-fish, 

 which swallows them almost by the bushel, shells and all; these 

 help to thin the Oyster-beds, and make the dredger's labours 

 less remunerative than they would otherwise be. Here is a 



picture of one as he stands in his boat just about to throw 

 his dredge into the sandy bottom, where he knows the de- 

 licious testaceans do, or ought to, lie most thickly. The dredge, 

 which is a triangular iron frame with a net over the bottom, 

 will naturally sink, and when the line to which it is attached 

 ceases to run out, the dredger will put his beat in motion, 

 and draw it thus over the Oyster-bed, and then pull it up 

 filled, it maybe, with little fat "Miltons," or large "Colchesters," 

 or such other kind as the spot is known to yield. 



The Latin for Oyster is Ostrea, and that is a name given to 

 a genus of the Fectinida family, comprising beside the 0. edidis, 

 or Common Oyster, many other species. £diilis means eatable. 

 Home naturalists divide these Ostraceans into two groups, first 

 with simple or undulated, but not plaited valves; second, those 

 which have the borders of their valves distinctly plaited. 



