CLASS V. LAMELLIBRANCIIIATA: ORDER 2. ASIPIIONATA. 529 



are fixed to rocks for life, obtain food ? Jones,in his " Structure of the Animal Kingdom," answers 

 this question : " Wonderful indeed is the elaborate mechanism employed to effect the double 

 purpose of renewing the respired fluid and feeding the helpless inhabitants of these shells. Every 

 filament of the gill-fringe, examined under a powerful microscope, is found to be covered with 

 countless cilia in constant vibration, causing, by their united efforts, powerful and rapid currents, 

 which, sweeping over the entire surface of the gills, hurry toward the mouth whatever floating 

 animalcules or nutritious particles may be brought within the limits of their action, and thus 

 bring streams of nutritive atoms to the very aperture through which they are conveyed to 

 the stomach, the lips and labial fringes acting as sentinels to admit or refuse entrance, as the mat- 

 ter supplied may be of a wholesome or pernicious character. So energetic, indeed, is the ciliary 

 movement over the entire extent of the gills, that if any portion of them be cut off with a pair 

 of scissors it immediately swims away, and continues to row itself in a given direction as long as 

 the cilia upon its surface continue their movements." What is there more curious, more wonder- 

 ful than this in the history of animated nature ? Down in the hidden depths of the sea, on every 

 shore, in every clime, in respect to myriads of the most helpless of his creatures, God bestows his 

 care and works his miracles ! 



The Common Oyster of Europe is the Ostrea edulis : there are many other species — it is 

 said not less than eighty — in different parts of the world, most of which are eaten. In tropical 

 countries they are found growing to the branches and trunks of trees, especially those of the 

 mangrove, which stand in the water. In these places the inhabitants often cut off a limb of a tree 

 incrusted with oysters, by which means they obtain a supply. There are three species assigned 

 to the United States, the Northern Oyster, 0. borealis, the Virginia Oyster, 0. Virginica, 

 and the Canadian Oyster, 0. Canadensis. It is probable these are all one species ; the fisher- 

 men recognize two general varieties, called Chesapeake and York Bay. The names of oysters in 

 our markets are, however, very numerous, but they merely indicate the localities from which 

 they are taken, or in which they are laid, with the qualities peculiar to each. In New York the 

 most celebrated varieties are called Blue Point or Rockaway, Shreivsbury, and East River. The 

 oyster-beds of New York are at Northport and other places in the East River, on the Jersey 

 shore, the south side of Long Island, &c. 



At AYellfleet, near Cape Cod, are the principal planting-beds of Massachusetts. Forty thou- 

 sand bushels are annually brought here from the vicinity of New York and the borders of Chesa- 

 peake and Delaware Bays, and planted. The planting takes place in March, April, and May. 

 In from seven to nine months the oysters are doubled in size ; they are then taken up, the 

 largest sent to market, and the rest replanted. 



An immense quantity of oysters are procured on the coasts of Virginia, many of which are 

 put down in the beds along the coasts of New Yoi'k, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Fresh 

 oysters are supplied during the winter in kegs, or in air-tight cans, to Quebec, Montreal, Buffalo, 

 Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and doubtless to St. Paul, Lecompton, and Omaha. 

 They travel on the wings of steam, and with an energy which admits of neither rest or hind- 

 rance. They may not move like thought, by telegraph, but they are everywhere "in advance of 

 the mails."* 



The manner in which oysters are usually captured on our coast is by means of rakes or tongs, 

 adapted to the purpose, with handles sometimes two or three fathoms long. When the water 

 is too deep for these instruments, a strong iron drag or dredge is employed. The number of 

 persons employed in this business amounts to many thousands. It is amazing that with such 

 incessant attacks the oysters are not exterminated. Beside the ravages of man, the sea is full of 

 active and vigilant enemies of this moUusk, whose only crime is its succulence. The star-fish 

 is frequently found clasping the valves of the oyster in such a manner as to prevent its opening, 



* The number of oysters annually used in Boston is estimated at one hundred thousand bushels, by Gould. The 

 whole number annually used in the United States is variously estimated at from five to ten millions of bushels, in th» 

 shell. We have no means of ascertaining the number; but, if it be five millions of bushels, then one thousand mil- 

 lions of individual oysters are annually consumed. It is probable that the actual number is much greater than this, 

 as oysters are taken along our coast for an extent of two thousand miles. 



Vol. IL— 67 



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