84 Beautiful Shells. 



his boat just about to throw his dredge into the 

 sandy bottom, where he knows the delicious testa- 

 ceans do, or ought to, lie most thickly. The dredge, 

 which is a triangular iron frame with a net over the 

 bottom, will naturally sink, and when the line to 

 which it is attached ceases to run out, the dredger 

 will put his boat in motion, and draw it thus over 

 the Oyster-bed, and then pull it up filled, it may be, 

 with little fat " Miltons," or large " Colchesters," 

 or such other kind as the spot is known to yield. 



The Latin for Oyster is Ostrea, and that is a 

 name given to a genus of the Fedinidce family, 

 comprising beside the 0. edulis, or common Oyster, 

 many other species. Edulis means eatable. Some 

 naturalists divide these Ostraceans into two groups, 

 first with simple or undulated, but not plaited 

 valves; second, those which have the borders of 

 their valves distinctly plaited. 



To the first group belong the Common Oyster, 

 and between thirty and forty other living species, 

 which are found principally in warm and temperate 

 latitudes. In the Polar ocean none have been 

 discovered, and in the hotter climates they are 

 most abundant, being found in large beds or banks 

 near the coast, and often attached to rocks, and 

 even to trees which grow by the water, so that the 



