"What is this?" asked VViUis, handing 

 his playmate a Httle doubled-up thing 

 about as large as a pea. 



After examining it carefully for a mo- 

 ment Joseph exclaimed : "You must have 

 found its mouth. This is surely a baby 

 crab which has been swallowed. See its 

 little legs drawn up to its body." 



Both agreed that they had found a 

 crab. They again turned their attention 

 to the oyster's mouth. 



"What a large mouth for such a little 

 animal ! See how far I can put the point 

 of my knife into it. It must have some 

 bowels. I wonder if its bowels are here 

 at the larger end. It looks puffy and 

 dark inside. The thing is so slippery that 

 I can scarcely handle it." 



"Can it see, Willis?" 



"I can find no eyes." 



The boys took the oyster out of the 

 water several times that they might see 

 how it looked tucked so snugly between 

 its shells. Every time they touched it 

 the opening was closed tight. Thus the 

 boys spent the afternoon. 



When Joseph went home Willis said : 

 "Come over to-morrow and we will get 

 auntie to tell us more about the oyster." 



After dinner Willis went to his room 

 and watched his oyster again until his 

 eyes drooped. 



Presently there was a ttiump-thump- 

 thumping across the, floor behind him. 

 What was Willis's surprise to see a big 

 library book come near and with one 

 leap place himself on the table. He was 

 again surprised to see the oyster reach 

 a long arm out of the water and the 

 book another long arm from between its 

 leaves. They two then shook hands. 

 Both raised themselves to a vertical posi- 

 tion and made a bow to Willis. 



"We will try to tell you what you 

 wish to know. Then you can surprise 

 Aunt Jennie by telling her some things." 

 As he spoke Mrs. Oyster swelled her- 

 self up so large that the soft white mat- 

 ter protruded from the shell ; for she 

 had never before had the high honor 

 of talking to a real boy. 



Willis was so ])lc:iscd thai lie clai)i)C(1 

 his hands. 



Mrs. Oyster crawled up and nicely bal- 

 anced herself on the edge of the dish. 

 Willis was speechless witli siu-prise. 



Book spoke: "Tin's is Airs. ( )ysUM". 



She belongs to the subkingdom of shell- 

 fish called Mollusca. All of her folks 

 have soft bodies. As she is protected 

 by a shell of two parts, she is said to 

 be a bi-valve. Her relative, Snail," said 

 he, motioning with his hand, "having a 

 single shell is called a uni-valve." 



Looking in the direction of the move- 

 ment of Book's hand, what was his sur- 

 prise to ,see a snail with a shell on his 

 back crawling across the table. Where 

 he came from, Willis could not tell. 



"When looking at that oyster this 

 afternoon you noticed a thickened por- 

 tion fastened to a dark spot on the valve," 

 said Book. 



"I remember," said Willis. 



"There is a muscle," continued Book, 

 "fastened at the dark spot on each valve. 

 It becomes very strong by use. An oys- 

 ter knows how to let it stretch, thus open- 

 ing the valves to allow water to enter 

 his chamber. It also knows how to draw 

 it up so as to close them to keep out in- 

 truders. The white covering over the 

 body is called the 'mantle'. If you notice 

 the inside of an oyster valve, you can 

 see a mark showing how near to the edge 

 the mantle came. That is called the pal- 

 lial line. 



"If you will keep on looking you will 

 succeed in finding that besides a mouth, 

 an oyster has a stomach, liver and intes- 

 tines, a nervous system, and a heart that 

 pumps blood, though it is not red but 

 white blood. 



"When you breathe, you take in your 

 lungs from air what is called oxygen. 

 Without oxygen there can be no life. 

 Anything that can not in some way take 

 in oxygen can not have life. Water as 

 well as air contains it. Oysters have 

 no lungs, but they have leaf-like gills on 

 each side of the body. By means of these 

 they get oxygen." 



"Can an oyster see?" asked Willis. 



"It has organs of sight, hearing, smell- 

 ing, touch." 



"Where are his eyes? We could not 

 find them." 



"Tlnnt them again," laughed Book. "I 

 think that I will not tell you that. Since 

 an oyster has no head you nuist not be 

 surprised to find them in an odd place. 

 The dark pari which you noticed this 

 afternoon and wliicli shinvs S(~) {plainly, in 

 a cooked oN'ster is its i'reat liver. 



54 



