MYA. 57 



Bay, 52° 10' N. (Drexler) ; Greenland (Moll.) ; Dronthcim to Cape 

 North (M-Andrciv). Abundant as a pleistocene fossil throughout 

 the North. 



It seems not to he a common shell at the British Islands, and 

 to be seldom used as food there. 



Its surface is often colored by the earth in which it is found. 

 Very often it has a rusty c(jlor, or a bluish clay-C(jlor ; and the so- 

 lidity of the shell varies according- to its exjjosure to the chafing 

 of the sea. Some specimens obtained in the still, sandy harbor 

 of Provincetown are very white, and nearly as thin as paper. 



In the young shell the valves are quite unequal, and the tooth 

 is produced towards the longer side, so as to ])e somewhat trian- 

 gular. I have compared shells in this state, a third of an inch in 

 length, with specimens of Sphcnia Sivainsoni, Turt., and can find 

 no differences in the hinge, and none in the shell, unless that per- 

 haps the latter may be a little thinner, and proportionally longer 

 than the former. [»S'. Sivaiiisoiu is regarded by British writers as 

 the fry of M. truncata. 



Note. — The clam has found its phice in our literature, and the following scraps may 

 not be inappropriate here. 



" The Indians were very fond of clams, which they called sickishun/;. This is a word 

 with a plural termination. If the author mitiht be allowed to revive an oV\ term, he would 

 denominate the conmion or small clam the sicki." — Hktorij of Orleans, in Cull. Mass. 

 Hist. Soc. viii. 193 (1802). 



"And is there a mind for a delicate dish ? 

 We repair to the clani-banks and there we catch fish." 



Fonfathcrs' Sonij, about 1630. 



" Clams — white. Their broth is most excellent in all intermitting- fevers, consumption, 

 etc. These clams feed only on sand." — .John Wintkroji, in .Journal of the Ro^/al Soc. 1(J34. 



" The times wherein old Pompion was a saint. 

 When men fared hardly, yet without complaint, 

 On vilest cates ; the dainty Indian maize 

 Was eat with clamp-shells, out of wooden trays " 



B. Thompson, Neio Enf unci's Crisis, 1675. 



"SONNET TO A CLAM. 



" ' Dum tacent clamant.' 



" Inglorious friend ! most confident I am 



Thy life is one of very little ease ; 



Albeit men mock thee with their similes. 

 And prate of ho'mg ' happy as a clam ' ! 

 What though thy shell pi-otects thy fragile head 



From the sharp bailiffs of the briny sea? 



Thy valves are sure no safety-valves to thee. 



