LIVING CREATURES. 



an average of at least a hundred oysters to each man, 

 woman, and child. This does not mean that each gets 

 his hundred. 



How so many are produced and gathered will be an 

 interesting question to answer. The oyster is ready to 

 be eaten when it is about four or five years old. Like 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 5. Fig. 



Growth of Oyster from the Egg. 



the chicken and the clam, it comes from an egg. 



The mother oyster between the months of May 



and September produces over nine millions Fig - 7 - 



of eggs. After lying in the folds of the mantle for 



a while, these eggs are sent into the water where the 



wee things in them at once begin to grow. 



The perfect egg, greatly magnified in the illustra- 

 tion, is a five hundredth part of an inch in diameter 

 (Fig. 4). When it is three hours old it assumes a 

 different shape (Fig. 5). When it begins to swim it is 

 called a "spat" (Fig. 6). It swims by the motion of 

 its cilia or hairs. When it is nearly ready to settle 

 upon the bottom (Fig. 7), the shell has begun to grow 

 from its mantle, and the cilia about where its head 

 would be, if it were fortunate enough to have a head, 

 are the paddles by which it scuds about. 



Within six days from the time it left its mother's 

 mantle, the spat will- find a congenial place on the bot- 

 tom, fasten itself to an old oyster shell or an old boot, 

 and there remain for tbe rest of its life. Although such 



