78 Beautiful Shells, 



"bivalve shells wliose eJlges are tootlieclj or, as it is 

 said_, ]jectincUcd, lu the scallop and tlie 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, jpeden. 

 Thirdly, the Common Oyster is a Monomyarian- 

 Concliifcr, Ah ! that^s something like a name for 

 the acephaloid monarch ! Look at these two words^ 

 mono -my avian J di-myarian. You knovr, 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 

 abductor muscle, and therefore belongs to the 

 division of the Pectinidce family called Monomyariay 

 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. We 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 tha 

 abductor muscle, above spoken of? Well^ this. 



