Fig. 169. Pinna nobilis, with its byssus (Linnæus).
Twelve species are described as living in the several seas. Pinna nobilis (Fig. 169), the byssus of which was employed in the ancient Neapolitan industry, inhabits the shores of the Mediterranean. Pinna bullata, Swainson (Fig. 168), is also a well-known species.
Ostreidæ.
Our twenty-first family, Ostreidæ, contains Lima, Spondylus, Pecten, Anomia, and the all-important oyster. The common oyster, Ostrea edulis, is found in all seas. It is unequally valved, modified in shape by the form of the submarine body to which it happens to be attached. The lower or adherent valve is concave, always the largest; the upper one thin, usually flat; the shell is lamellar, rough externally, and seems to be composed of broken layers, adhering slightly to each other, as if the successive layers had been built up from within, and each succeeding layer was an enlargement upon its predecessor. The hinge which unites the valves is an elastic toothless ligament placed behind the centre, which opens the valves.
The interior surface of the valves is smooth and white, diaphanous or pearly towards the centre, but near the back an oval or rounded impression may be observed, to which a thick and whitish fleshy body is attached. This is the central muscle which draws the valves together, hermetically closing them upon the animal. This muscle is cut through in the process of opening the oyster.
The animal has no power of locomotion; its foot is very small and often wanting, no syphon, but lies with its mouth open, and slightly attached to the shell. The shell itself is always adherent, as if soldered to the rock or other submarine body, the point of adherence being near the summit of the lower valve, at the part called the heel.
Let us suppose the oyster opened by the double dissection of the ligament of the central muscle and of the abductor valves. When displayed before our eyes, we see in the bottom of the shell a flattened, shapeless animal, semi-transparent, greyish, and somewhat oval-shaped. The gastronomist, who seldom sees beyond his nose, thinks that in spite of its culinary merits the oyster belongs to the lowest rank of animal existence; but he deceives himself, and does not know how complex and delicate is the organization of the humble bivalve. The animal is enveloped in a sort of smooth, thin, contractile tissue called the mantle, which folds round it, presenting two lobes, separated on the greatest part of its circumference, and forming a sort of hood, the summit of which abuts upon the hinge of the bivalve. The edges of this mantle are fringed with very small cilia, which the creature can extend and draw back at pleasure, and which seem to be gifted with a certain amount of sensibility. It is this mantle which secretes and deposits the calcareous matter which forms the shell, each plate of which is an enlargement on the preceding one, until it constitutes a pyramid of thin convex lamellæ.
At the point where the lobes of the mantle meet, near the summit of the valve, is the mouth of the animal, with its thin membranous lips. This organ is large and dilatable, and is accompanied by four flat triangular pieces, by means of which the animal introduces its food into the stomachal cavity.