Armoured Myriads and Monsters 



the shell itself there are no blood-vessels, there 

 is no actual life ; and it cannot grow, as the 

 creature within it grows. Yet in a sense it 

 grows, since by the addition of constant fresh 

 layers to the edges it becomes larger and larger, 

 thus accommodating itself to the increased size 

 of its inhabitant. 



Mollusc shells are of all imaginable shapes 

 and kinds ; and often they are of extraordinary 

 beauty. 



Sometimes they are thick and hard, so as to 

 refuse the passage of light. Sometimes they are 

 so thin as to be translucent. Sometimes they 

 are exquisitely pearly or iridescent. The latter 

 effect, seen in the mother-of-pearl lining of 

 oyster shells, is due to enormous numbers of 

 most fine and delicate lines, close toofether, which 

 reflect and break up the rays of sunlight, much 

 after the manner of a prism. 



Perhaps in the whole Mollusc Family none of 

 the members are so interesting to man as the 

 oyster — partly as a much-relished food, partly as 

 the manufacturer of pearls. 



Among gems worn by women few are fairer, 

 none more emblematic of purity and grace, than 

 these. Yet, so far as relates to any intention on 

 the part of the oyster, any idea of forming that 



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