28 



THE MUSEUM. 



the bottom of its burrow, while the 

 tip of the pseudo trunk or siphon is at 

 the opening receiving; food The sip- 

 hon has two tubes; the one furtherest 

 from the hinge, or the lower, may be 

 called the mouth proper, as it sucks in 

 a continual current of water. The 

 other performs an opposite work, re- 

 jecting the accumulation, and can be 

 compared to a chimney, out of which 

 passes the rejectamenta after consump- 

 tion. In this one act of drawing water 

 through i(s long siphon the clam eats 

 and breathes. The water, laden with 

 food and oxygen, is brought into the 

 clam in a remarkable manner, which 

 is readily observed. The gills and 

 other parts of the clam are covered 

 with minute, hair-like organs, which 

 may 'be compared to oars, which all 

 wave or work in a given direction, al- 

 ways away from the incurrent siphon 

 opening, thus creating a current 

 through it, the water from without 

 rushing in to fill its place, and so pow- 

 erfully do the cilia work that a few in 

 a small section of the gills removed 

 for the purpose have been known to 

 move six millimeters in a minute. The 

 water from the incurrent siphon, laden 

 with food particles and charged with 

 oxygen, is then waft2d by millions of 

 paddles over every portion of the gills, 

 when the blood in the tubes takes up 

 the oxygen and ejects the carbonic 

 acid. On it passes, the cilia or pad- 

 dles sweeping it on in the direction of 

 the mouth, which, as it. passes, seizes 

 the atoms of food, the rejected por- 

 tions, the impure water now laden 

 with carbonic acid, being swept along 

 and finally forced out of the upper 

 tube of the siphon. So it will be seen 

 that the perfect type of the siphon, 

 with its two tubes, as illustrated by 

 the clam, is a marvelous organ; and 

 that the simple "head" of the clam, 

 in popular parlance, is more like the 

 tip of a long proboscis, really a very 

 complicated and beautiful organ in all 

 its parts, having various and important 

 functions, interesting not only to the 



naturalist, but to any stroller along 

 shore. 



The mollusks are by no means the 

 low creatures generally supposed. 

 They are endowed with many senses; 

 indeed, the wonderful siphon, like the 

 trunk of the elephant, has such varied 

 offices that it seems gifted with a spec- 

 ial sense. The clam has olifactory or- 

 gans, these being found in what is 

 known as the parieto-splanchnic gan- 

 glia. It has minute eyes, in the pec- 

 ten thirty or more are seen on the 

 edge of the mantle, gleaming like 

 gems. Sometimes the eyes are situat- 

 ed upon the siphon, as in the solen or 

 razor clam. They are the simplest 

 form of eyes, yet are sufficienc to warn 

 the owner, as every clammer knows, 

 who has seen the wily razor dart down 

 into its den as the shadow passed over 

 it. The ears of the clam are delicate 

 sacs, each containing an otolith, which, 

 like the tongue of a bell, jangles 

 against the cilia that line the sac, so 

 producing sound waves. 



A study of the siphons of the mol- 

 lusks shows the greatest variety. The 

 clam illustrates the maximum length. 

 In the razor clam, ensis, and others, 

 it is very short. In Tellina tenera the 

 siphons are remarkably long, several 

 times the length of the shell, and well 

 illustrate the forms in which the siph- 

 ons constitute separate tubes. 



The Rose Tanager. 



It was the good fortune of the writer 

 on May 2, 1898 to observe a fine adult 

 male specimen of Rose Tanager {Py- 

 langa astiva) in our localify. This 

 was no may be so, nor perhaps it might 

 be, as the specimen was so near as to 

 place its identity beyond doubt. About 

 9 a. m. while standing on our front 

 porch my attention was attracted by 

 this bird in a maple tree that stood on 

 the opposite side of the street. My 

 first thought was how very 'early the 

 Scarlet Tanager {Pyranga rubra) has 

 arrived. At the same moment I ob- 

 served the peculiar shade of color and 



