LlMA.- 



-MOLLUSCA.- 



-Oyster. 



builds a house or nest. It chooses to dwell in a coral 

 grolto ; but in constructing this grotto it shows that it 

 is not only a mason but a rope-spinner, and a tapestry- 

 weaver, and a plasterer. Were it merely a mason it 

 would be no easy matter to cause the polymorphous 

 coral to cohere. Cordage, then, is necessary to bind 

 together the angular fragments of the coral, and this 

 cordage it spins ; but it spins it as one of the secrets of 

 the deep. Somehow or another, though it has no hand, 

 it contrives to intertwine this yarn which it has formed 

 among the numerous bits of coral so as firmly to bind 

 a handful of it together. Externally this habitation is 

 rough, and therefore better fitted to elude or to ward 

 off enemies ; but though rough externally, within all is 

 smooth and lubricous, for the fine yarn is woven into 

 a lining of tapestry, and the inter.stices are filled up 

 with fine slime, so that it is smooth as plaster work. 

 " Tapestry," adds the doctor, " as a covering for walls 

 was once the proud and costly ornament of royal apart- 

 ments ; but ancient though the art was, I shall answer 

 for it that our little marine artisan took no hint from 

 the Gobelins, nor from the workmen of Arras, nor from 

 those of Athens, nor even from the earliest tapissiers 

 of the East. I doubt not that from the time Noah's 

 ark rested on the mountain of Ararat, the forefathers 

 of these beautiful little Limas have been constructing 

 their coral cottages, and lining them with well-wrought 

 tapestry in the peaceful Bay of Lamlash." The family 

 is represented on Plate 11, fig. 24, by Lima aperta. 



Family— OSTREID^. 



The Oj'sters have no foot, and the mantle is entirely 

 open ; the shell is irregular, thick and foliated, and is 

 generally attached by the outer surface of one valve ; 

 the hinge is toothless, and the ligament is internal. 

 The .species are numerous and diversified in appearance ; 

 upwards of sixty have been described. 



Genus Ostrea. — This genus has an inequivalve, 

 irregular shell, attached by the left valve. The up- 

 per valve is flat or concave, and the lower convex, 

 with a prominent beak. The external surface is of a 

 sub-nacreous, laminated structure, and the internal is 

 usually of a dull white colour, and slightly nacreous. 

 Oysters are natives of most countries, being found in 

 both tropical and temperate seas. Some of them 

 attain a large size, esi)ecially those that are found in 

 North America and on the coast of Afiica. Of all 

 edible moUusks, the oyster is the one most in request, 

 and is eagerly devoured by prince and peasant. The 

 Oysters of Great Britain are the most esteemed of any, 

 and the fishery for this shell-fish is one of national 

 importance. 



THE OSTREA EDULIS (Plate 11, fig. 25), or as it is 

 often called the Native Oyster, is our common species. 

 They are found in various parts of our coasts, though the 

 southern and south-eastern shores afford the principal 

 supply for the market. The fisheries of Essex are per- 

 haps the most important, and have been long celebrated. 

 Fuller in his "Worthies of England," tells us even in his 

 time that " the best oysters in England— fat, salt, green- 

 Vcil,. II. 



finned — are bred near Colchester, where they have an 

 excellent art to feed them in pits made for the purpose." 

 The natural oyster banks are generally in water several 

 fathoms deep. The oysters spawn in May and June, 

 and the " spats," as the yoimg fry are called, are col- 

 lected and removed to artificial beds or tanks, where 

 the water is very shallow. They then receive the name 

 of " natives." In these beds they do not attain their 

 full growth in less than from five to seven years, while 

 those that remain in their natural beds reach maturity 

 in four years. In Scotland the oysters are not bred in 

 artificial beds, but are eaten just as they are brought 

 from their native rocks. Large quantities, however, 

 are sent up to England annually to be deposited in the 

 beds near the mouths of the Thames and Medway. 

 The principal Scottish fishery is at Prestonpans, near 

 Edinburgh, from which have been sent in some seasons 

 as many as thirty cargos, each cargo consisting of 320 

 barrels, and each barrel containing 1200 saleable 

 oysters. The season for eating oysters is from the 4lh 

 of August to the 12th of May, and during this time it 

 is calculated that from 20,t"00 to 30,000 bushels of 

 natives, and 100,000 bushels of sea 03'sters are annually 

 sent to the London market alone. The Romans were 

 great epicures in oysters, and sometimes imported our 

 British natives to Rome. Lentilius says that the oyster 

 is an animal so disagreeable and nauseous to appear- 

 ance, whether seen in the shell or out of it, that he 

 must be considered a bold man who first moved it to 

 his lips ; and King James I. used to say, according to 

 old Fuller, " he was a very valiant man who first ad- 

 ventured on eating of oysters." Most probably, adds 

 the historian, " mere hunger put men first on that trial." 

 Oysters, however, he says, " are the only meat which 

 men eat alive, and yet account it no cruelty." 



The best French oysters are those found on the 

 coasts of Brittaii}' and Normandy. The fishery at 

 Granville, a small town on the coast of Normandy, 

 produces yearly from 200,000 to 300,000 francs, and 

 gives employment to from 70 to 120 boats, and on an 

 average 500 men. At Cancale, another town on the 

 same coast, 70 boats are often employed, manned with 

 nearly 570 men. 



Those oysters are considered tlie best which are of 

 a greenish colour. This colour is communicated to 

 the animal by its feeding upon confcrvse and ulva; in 

 the taiiks where they are preserved. Oysters occa- 

 sionally prove unwholesome when out of season, and 

 there is even a popular tradition in this country that it 

 is not safe to eat them in any of those months in which 

 the letter R does not occur. In China 1 have known 

 them produce deleterious effects upon our sailors, and 

 in the West Indies those oysters wliich are attached to 

 the mangrove trees are generally looked upon with 

 suspicion. Oysters are edible in almost all parts of the 

 world, though the species vary. In India, China, 

 Japan, on the shores of the large islands in the Indian 

 Ocean, in Australia, and in Africa, they are in all 

 declared by those who have eaten of them to be excel- 

 lent. 



With this account of the genus Ostrea we must con- 

 clude our long list of Bivalve shells. 



3B 



