Lima. MOLLUSCA. Oyster. 
builds a house or nest. It chooses to dwell in a coral 
grotto ; but in constructing this grotto it shows that it 
is not only a mason but a rope-spinner, atid a tapestry- 
weaver, and a plasterer. Were it merely a mason it 
would be no easy matter to cause the polj'morphous 
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 interstices 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 Oysters have no foot, and the mantle is entii’ely 
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, especially those that are found in 
North America and on the coast of Africa. Of all 
edible mollusks, 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 flshery 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. 
The}'^ 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- 
VoL. II. 104 
377 
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 young 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 maturit}' 
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 20,000 to 30,000 bushels of 
natives, and 100,000 bushels of sea oysters are annually 
sent to the London market alone. The Homans 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, “ meie 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 Brittan}^ and Normandy. The fishery at 
Granville, a small towm 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 the best which are of 
a greenish colour. This colour is communicated to 
the animal by its feeding upon confervse and ulva; in 
the tanks 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 I have known 
them produce deleterious effects upon our sailors, and 
in the West Indies those oysters which 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. 
