PECTEN "THE SCALLOP-SHELL." 465 



CHAPTER LI. 



" What print of fairy feet is here, 

 On Neptune's smooth and yellow sands ? 

 What midnight elves in airy dance, 

 Beneath the moonbeams' trembling glance, 

 Have chased the waves, uncheck'd by fear ? 

 Whoe'er they were, they fled from morn ; 

 For now, all silent and forlorn 

 These tide-forsaken sands appear." 



IT by no means follows, that because the marine 

 aquarium has but recently found a place in the draw- 

 ing-room of the amateur naturalist, or vindicated for 

 itself a claim to be considered as ancillary to the 

 pursuits of the scientific inquirer, it is a novelty 

 in the world, as rows of oyster-tubs on every fish- 

 monger's stall abundantly testify ; neither are the 

 contents of those wooden piscina without numerous 

 admirers, anxious to discuss the merits of their native 

 occupants, and enjoy the luxury of more familiar 

 acquaintance with the interior of the well-known 

 bivalves, so far at least as to be able to estimate with 

 critical gusto the relative merits of such epicurean 

 delicacies. Further than this, we believe the public 



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