66 SPORT IN NORTH A3IERICA. 



Oysters abound along all the coasts of North 

 America and enter largely into the food of the 

 people. The bays and creeks of New Jersey, Mas- 

 sachusetts, Delaware, Virginia, the two Carolinas, 

 Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Texas abound with 

 oysters which attain an enormous size and are of ex- 

 quisite flavour.* In the Northern States, the oysters 



■whicli is formed by the junction of the two lobes, and it is furnislied 

 with two pairs of tentacles. The mouth leads directly into the stomach, 

 ■which is a pocket furnished with very thin sides and is placed in the 

 thickness of the liver, which is very large and of a brown colour, with 

 a number of openings to give vent to the secretions. The intestine 

 winds about several times inside the liver and issiies from it about the 

 middle of the back, where it terminates by a moveable, infundibuliform 

 orifice. , 



The respiratory organs consist of four leaves of unequal length. 

 The apparatus for circulation consists of a pyriform heart, placed 

 between the adductor muscle and the viscera. From the heart issues 

 a large aortic canal which is divided into three branches, one for the 

 mouth and tentacles, one for the liver and organs of digestion, and the 

 third for the posterior part of the body. Oysters are hermaphrodite 

 and reproduce without copulation. About the beginning of spring, 

 they eject a spawn which resembles drops of tallow, in which, by the 

 aid of a magnifyiug glass, may be distinguished a multitude of small 

 oysters all ready formed, which attach themselves to rocks and stones, 

 to each other, and to every solid object which comes in their way. 

 The shell is formed by the membranous covering called the mantle. 

 In the thickness of the warp of this cloak, an organic woof has been 

 observed in which a great many calcareous granules are secreted, 

 ■which granules, with the organic matter which surrounds them, serve 

 to increase the thickness of the covering. 



[Although some objection might be taken to certain points in this 

 description of the physiology of the oyster, it is sufficiently near to the 

 present state of knowledge to pass muster. — Trans.] 



* The food of the oyster in a wild state consists of spawn, ento- 

 mozoa, &c. Their duration of existence has not been ascertained ; 

 but three years are required to produce a marketable oyster, and some 

 think that they do not live beyond ten to fifteen years. 



