PELECYPODS 



457 



ejecting a jet of water into the air. The shells vary considerably in size 

 and thickness of valves. Large specimens are three and a half inches long 

 and two inches high. Our forefathers were not always well posted upon 

 the habits of mollusks, even though they may have relished them in 



Mya arenaria, showing extended animal. 



chowders and believed their flesh, to possess valuable curative proper- 

 ties. John Winthrop, in 1634, gave a list of useful American animals, 

 in which he remarked : " Clam, white ; their broth is most excellent in 

 all intermitting fevers, consumption, etc. These clams feed only on 

 sand." What marvelous digestive powers ! 



FAMILY SOLZNIDJE 



In this family are included the long, slender bivalves com- 

 monly known as " razor- shells." Every one who has been to the 

 sea-shore has become familiar with these odd-looking mollusks, 

 for their valves are always to be found upon every beach. Their 

 station is upon sandy flats or bars more or less exposed at low 

 tide. They burrow into the sand perpendicularly to a depth of 

 two or three feet, remaining hidden most of the time. Occasion- 

 ally a colony of them will be seen, each one projecting slightly 

 from his burrow. If approached most cautiously some of them 

 may be captured, but if the sand is jarred they all take fright 

 and disappear in an instant. It is no easy matter to capture a 

 " razor " when once he has taken warning, for he will dig down 

 into the sand about as fast as one can follow with a spade. A 



Ensis directus, showing extended animal : 1, foot ; 2, siphons ; 3, papillse, enlarged. 



good way to catch one is to approach his burrow carefully, 

 and. then plunge a spade obliquely down below him, thereby 



