BIVALVES. 39 
Nothing, then, is wanting to this feeble creature ; 
the same Almighty Being who hurls the tempest 
from his hand, provides for its security amid the fury 
of the storm. And yet, this is but a single member 
of a numerous family, and the family itself but a small 
colony of the myriads of shell-fish that extend from 
the Line to the Frozen Ocean. 
The remaining divisions of the genus Ostrea, consist 
of those which, in substance, form, and colouring, are 
more nearly allied to the common or eatable Oyster. 
The individuals of this family are generally of an 
irregular form ; their habitations are rough and plated 
on the outside, while the interior is smooth and 
glossy, and sometimes richly varied with a steel-like 
blue, or metallic lustre. 
Here we have again occasion to observe, that 
beauty and variety, distinct from every other consi- 
deration, were evidently designed by the Creator. 
The O. Malleus, or Hammer Oyster, resembles a pick- 
axe; but the O. Folium, or Foliated, is evidently 
constructed with a different design. It appears like 
a withered leaf which the wind has tossed at random 
on the shore, and thus its innocent inhabitant, by a 
wonderful adaptation of external structure to his 
feeble circumstances, effectually eludes the vigilance 
of birds of prey. The Tree-Oyster, on the contrary, 
attaches himself to the roots and branches of the 
