THE OYSTER,
Which may be considered as the King of Bivalves; his palace, to be sure, is somewhat rough and rugged outside, but within, its walls are smooth and polished, lustrous and iridescent, and altogether beautiful; of a nacrous or pearly appearance, now flushing into a rose tint, now fading into pure white, and adorned sometimes with goodly pearls of price; truly this monarch of the Conchifers has a habitation worthy of a prince, wherein he lives in right royal state. Our readers may smile perhaps at the idea of the solitary Oyster doing this, down there on his mud bank or rocky anchorage ground, shut up in his dirty-looking shells, and holding, as it seems, commune with no one, not even his fellow mollusks; how can he be said to live in royal state, or indeed any state at all, except in a most weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable one? And this only shews how erroneously those often judge who do so hastily, and from first appearances.
If we take a peep through a microscope, under the direction of a naturalist named Rymer Jones, we shall see that “the shell of an Oyster is a world occupied by an innumerable quantity of animals, compared to which the Oyster itself is a colossus. The liquid enclosed between the shell of the Oyster contains a multitude of embryos, covered with transparent scales, which swim with ease; a hundred and twenty of these embryos, placed side by side, would make an inch in breadth. This liquid contains besides, a great variety of animalculæ, five hundred times less in size, which give out a phosphoric light. Yet these are not the only inhabitants of this dwelling—there are also three distinct species of worms.”
Let us see if there are any hard names here that want explaining before we go any further. The first we stumble upon is Colossus, which comes from the Latin, and means a great image or statue, like that which ancient historians tell us once bestrode the entrance to the harbour of Rhodes. Embryo comes from the Greek, and means something small and unfinished, that is to expand or grow into a more perfect form, as the seed into a plant. Animalculæ, are minute or very small animals, such as cannot be distinguished without the help of a microscope, hence they are sometimes called microscopic animals; this word comes from the Latin animalis, which means having life. Phosphoric signifies luminous, or giving out light. The Greek name of the morning star is Phospha. In Latin, Phosphorus is a term applied to a substance which chemists extract from bones and other animal matter, and which, when exposed to air, burns with a pale blue light, like that emitted by the glow-worm. Many of the oceanic or sea animalculæ are exceedingly phosphorescent, so that by night, the waves appear like billows of flame. Of this luminosity of the ocean, as it is termed, we shall have to speak on another occasion. We will now return to the Oyster, who, it will be seen, is by no means so solitary in his bivalve palace as might be supposed. He has his torch-bearers, and other attendants, quite a host of them, no doubt magnificently dressed, if we could but see them to advantage, and well instructed in the several duties which they have to perform. Oh yes, certainly, as the Irish poet has said,
“Of all the Conchiferous shell-fish,
The Oyster is surely the King;”
Shall we continue the quotation? and say
“Arrah Mick, call the people who sell fish,
And tell them a dozen to bring: