381 



CHAPTER IX. 



Class V. BRACHIOPODA. 



"For wouderful, indeed, are all His works : 

 Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all 

 Had in remembrance, always with delight." — Milton. 



The last of the series of mollusks are also without head. 

 Like the preceding class, they are provided with a shell con- 

 sisting of two distinct pieces ; but their pecuKarity consists 

 in being furnished with a pair of spiral arms, and in being 

 differently placed within the shell. All live attached to 

 foreign substances. 



Their retractile arms are said to be in constant activity, 

 and thus produce an inward current of water for the capture 

 of small insects, and the drawing in of floating nutriment ; 

 and, as rega,rds the position of the mollusk in his shelly 

 home, the dorsal portion is against one valve, and the 

 ventral against the other. The arrangement and position 



