GRYPH^A.--PECTEN. 73^ 



8. European oysters possess a much more decided flavour, a 

 stronger taste, than those of the United States ; Americans, on first 

 eating oysters in London or Paris, commonly complain of their 

 strong coppery taste, and it is not until after several trials they 

 karn to prefer them to our own. The locality of oyster beds 

 exercises a great influence over the taste of the oyster ; within 

 the tropics they are rarely found good, and they are almost un- 

 known in the Pacific Ocean. Oysters taken near the entrance 

 of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays have a high reputation, 

 and are consumed in great quantities. Norfolk oysters are pro- 

 verbially excellent. 



The markets of Paris and the north of France are chiefly 

 supplied from the bay of Cancale ; from which the boats of 

 HouUe, near Cancale, and Granville, carry away more tlian 

 eighty millions of these mollusks every year, the major part of 

 which are sent to Courseulles and other parts of Normandy, 

 where there are considerable establishments for the parkage 

 (planting out) of oysters, whence they are sent post to Paris. 

 About the beginning of summer these mollusks cast their spawn: 

 at this season it is customary not to eat them, and it is generally 

 believed they are then unwholesome, but this opinion does not 

 appear to be well founded. 



9. We give the name of Gryphj-ja to shells, which for the 

 most part are fossil, and which are very analogous to oysters, 

 but the convex valve is more pro- 

 jecting at the apex or beak, and at 

 that point bends into a hook (fig. 90). 

 They are found in very ancient for- 

 mations. There is* but one living 

 species known. 



10. The Scallops — Pecten (also 

 called the pilgrim's shell, from being 

 worn as an ornament by pilgrims) — "^'^" 90.— gryph^a. 

 resemble the oysters in the disposition of the hinge, and may 

 be easily recognised by their inequivalve, semicircular shell, 

 almost always marked by ribs, radiating from the apex of each 

 valve towards their margin, and .having on each side of the 

 hinge an angular enlargement called the ear {fig. 91, e). In 

 some species of Pecten there is a byssus ; but most of these mol- 



8. How do European oysters differ from those of the United States ? 



9. What is the character of the Grypha'a ? (Gryphsea ; from the Greek, 

 grupos, incurved.) 



10. What are the characters of the genus Pecten ? (Pecten, Latin, a 

 comb.) What is meant by the ear of a shell ? 



7 



