A FRESHWATER MUSSEL 85 



just above each is the scar of a much smaller muscle, the 

 retractor of the foot, and just posterior to the anterior adductor 

 muscle is the scar of the protractor muscle of the foot. Note 

 the broad line which joins the scars, running parallel with the 

 edge of the shell. This is the pallial line ; it is formed by the 

 insertion in the shell of the delicate muscle fibers at the edge 

 of the mantle. Do you find hinge teeth in the shell just beneath 

 the hinge ligament ? Unio has such teeth ; Anodonta is without 

 them and is also characterized by the thinness of its shell. 



Exercise 3. Draw a view of the inner surface of the shell. 



Break the shell and examine the broken edge witli a hand 

 lens. Study the structure of the shell. It is composed of 

 three layers the inner mother-of-pearl layer, which is secreted 

 by the entire surface of the mantle, the prismatic layer, and 

 the organic layer or periostracum on the outside. The two latter 

 layers are secreted by the edge of the mantle ; the periostracum 

 is very thin and gives the color to the shell. Place a piece of 

 the shell in a solution of hydrochloric acid; note the efferves- 

 cence which results ; also that an organic remnant, even of the 

 two inner layers, is left. 



Exercise 4. Draw a view of the broken edge of the shell on a 

 scale of 5. Show the prisms of the prismatic layer. 



Place the animal in water and study it as it lies in the right 

 shell. 1 The two halves of the mantle will be seen to envelop 

 entirely the visceral mass and the foot. Over the entire dorsal 

 portion of the visceral mass the mantle is fused with it and 

 cannot be separated, but the lateral and ventral portions of the 

 mantle lobes hang free, enclosing an extensive space, which is 

 called the mantle cavity. In it, on each side of the visceral mass, 



1 For the study of the soft parts of the mussel it is well to have at hand 

 also a specimen which has been deprived of both valves of the shell. 



