ostreidæ

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. A family of monomyarian bivalve mollusks, the oysters, typified by the genus Ostrea, to which various limits have been assigned. In Woodward's and older systems, a large group including all forms with the mantle quite open, a very small foot or none, an inequivalve shell, free or adherent to foreign bodies, resting on one valve, with central beaks, internal ligament, single adductor muscle, and obscure pallial line. Thus it included not only the Ostreidæ proper, but also Anomiidæ. Placunidæ, Pectinidæ, Limidæ, and Spondylidæ.