TURKEY AND OYSTERS. 23S 



knows which are the females. They all lay eggs after 

 the queer fashion already mentioned, they all dismiss 

 abundance of young oysters from their shells, and no 

 one even knows how they do it. Hundreds of oysters 

 have been examined by our keenest anatomists, and 

 the only conclusion that they have decided upon is 

 that an oyster cannot be crossed in love because there 

 is no other sex to fall in love with, unless, Narcissus- 

 like, the creature should suflFer from disappointed 

 affection for itself. In fact, the oyster carries out prac- 

 tically, with a trifling variation, the suggestion of the 

 well-known song, and the husband and the wife can 

 safely say that — 



They are saved so much bother, 

 For they are both one another, 

 And not themselves at alL 



id yet the oyster is a large-hearted being, though 



Ewith little brain, from which we might infer that its 



laffections were strong and its intelligence weak, did 



|iiot the previous observations prove there is no place 



for love. As to intellect, the creature needs but little, 



id has but little. It knows when to open and when 



shut its shell, which articles of food to accept and 



rhich to reject, and considering the stationary life 



rhich it leads, a solitary being among thousands, like 



[>risoners in close confinement and contiguous cells, it 



las quite as much intellect as it requires. 



Here I find I must pause. While describing the 

 [oyster, its curious structures and habits, I recognise 



