THE STORY OF THE PECTEN. 



67 



I grew rapidly, getting my food from little 

 plants and animals that abound in sea-water, and 

 as I kept enlarging my pretty shells, they never 

 failed to cover me when I wished to be alone. I 

 have heard that our shells have been used for 

 many purposes by men and women, and of course 

 the children al- 

 ways love to find 

 them, and use 

 them for spoons 

 and dishes. 



An old crab 

 told me that one 

 day he found a 

 book lying open 

 on the rocks. Of 

 course he could 

 not read it, for it 

 was not written 

 in crab language, 

 but he did look 

 at the pictures, and he declares that one of them 

 was of a pilgrim with a shell like ours in his hat. 



He also saw pictures of needle-books and pin- 

 cushions with scallop-shells on the sides. You 

 know that some people call us scallops, though we 

 really prefer to be known as pectens. 



Figure 25, 



