134 The Under-Water World 



The first of these to claim our atten- 

 tion is the oyster. The Common Oyster 

 such as is cultivated at Whitstable needs 

 no introduction. Many weighty scientific 

 volumes, miles of government reports 

 and cartloads of light literature have 

 been turned out in honour of the " succu- 

 lent bivalve/' The oyster during the 

 summer months produces a couple of 

 million eggs which are kept within the 

 shell until they hatch, when the larvae or 

 u spat " are shot out with considerable 

 force. The baby oyster, represented as 

 a gelatinous mass encased between two 

 transparent shells, travels along the sur- 

 face of the ocean, progressing by means 

 of a number of protruding hairs which 

 whip the water and carry it upon a very 

 insecure journey. Should the infant 

 oyster escape the attention of its many 

 enemies and survive a couple of days he 

 sinks to the bottom and cements himself 

 to the ocean bed. He grows very slowly 



