OYSTERS AND SMALL CLAMS 45 
though it assumes various shapes. The picture 
represents a rather small specimen. When the 
structure and color of the interior are once known, 
even a small fragment of this shell can be readily 
recognized. 
Anomia lampe, Gray, the Lawless Shell. This 
is a southern species, smaller than the last, having 
a very thin and delicate shell. It also hes upon 
its right valve, which is coneave and perforated. 
Through the opening runs a strong byssal plug, 
firmly attaching the whole to the support on which 
it rests. Color, yellow, shining; upper valve 
marked with four muscle impressions, instead of 
two, as in the last species. It gets its name from 
its irregular habits of growth. 
The oysters come next, and they can be quickly 
disposed of. While the fossil shell-beds in the 
Coast Mountains show that in a former geologi- 
eal age the oysters of this coast grew to huge di- 
mensions, a single shell weighing several pounds, 
yet now the native oyster of Puget Sound and the 
California coast is a little affair, the greatest di- 
mension of the shell being only two inches, while 
most specimens are still smaller. This native 
species is named Ostrea lurida, Cpr., the Lurid 
Oyster. There are two quite distinct varieties, 
expansa, Cpr., which is nearly cireular and is at- 
tached by the whole surface of the lower valve, 
and rufoides, Cpr., whose shells are reddish in 
eolor. Although of small size, these oysters make 
a very delicious stew. 
Ostrea virginiana, Lister, the Eastern Oyster, is 
brought here from Baltimore and other Atlantic 
