84 Beautiful Shells. 



his boat just about to tlirow Lis clredgo into tlio 

 sandy bottom^ -wliere lie knows tlie delicious testa- 

 ceans doj 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 Hne to 

 which it is attached ceases to run out, the dredger 

 will put his boat in motion, and draw it thus ovex-* 

 the Oyster-bed, and then pull it up filled, it may be, 

 with little fat '' Miltons,'' or largo '' 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 Pectinidce family, 

 comprising beside the 0. edulisj or common Oyster, 

 many other species. Edulis means eatable. Somo 

 naturalists divide these Ostraccans into two groups, 

 first with simple or undulated, but not plaited 

 valves; second, those which have the borders of 

 their valves distinctly plaited. 



To the first group belong the Common Oyster, 

 and between thirty and forty other living species, 

 which are found principally in warm and temperate 

 latitudes. In the Polar ocean none have been 

 discovered, and in the hotter climates they are 

 most abundant, being found in large beds or banks 

 near the coast, and often attached to rocks, and 

 even to trees which grow by the water, so that the 



