THE MUSSEL. 83 



by him, he becomes a subject of his kingdom, and 

 enjoys its inestimable privileges. And who can describe 

 the exultation of his soul ? Then, indeed, he enters 

 into the force of the apostle's language respecting Jesus 

 Christ, " whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, 

 though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice 

 with joy unspeakable and full of glory." May such 

 be the well founded exultation of every reader ! 



The mantle has been mentioned as the organ by 

 which the shell is elaborated, and described as a dou- 

 ble membrane, of simple arrangement ; and indeed so 

 it is in the oyster and other allied mollusks, the two 

 leaves being unconnected with each other round their 

 free edges. But in other groups it is more complicated, 

 the two leaves being united more or less at their 

 edges, inclosing the body, as in a sac. This is the 

 case, to a certain extent, in the mussel and its allies, 

 the edges of the mantle being so joined as to envelope 

 the body, leaving an aperture for the rejection of the 

 digested element, and another for the protrusion of the 

 foot. 



The foot of the common mussel, (mytilus edulis,) 

 can be advanced to the distance of two inches from the 

 shell, and applied to any fixed part within that range. 

 By attaching the point to any such body, and retract- 



