294 Our Food Mollusks 



terminal branches, is represented. The outline of the 

 shell is very different from that of the adult, being nearly 

 round. The umbones also are very prominent. 



Probably not even the swimming stage is more crit- 

 ical for Mya than this period of creeping, which is of 

 longer duration. If on a beach, where it has a chance 

 of continuing its existence, it may be washed away by 

 stormy waters ; and everywhere on the bottom it is ex- 

 posed to numerous enemies and has little defense against 

 them, for its transparent shell is still very thin and brittle. 

 Perhaps to this stage at least the line from Saxe's " Ode 

 to a Clam " might apply, " Thy valves are sure no safety- 

 valves to thee." 



Crabs and small fishes probably take many of them for 

 food, but the most destructive of the clam's enemies are 

 young starfish. These are produced in the early summer 

 when the young clams are making their appearance, and 

 after a short swimming period, also settle to the bottom 

 in company with them. Even before their rays are 

 formed, these pests develop an almost incredible voracity. 

 They embrace their infant companions with all the gen- 

 tleness displayed by their parents in their relations with 

 adult bivalves, and to equal purpose. 



This tragedy in miniature is illustrated in Figure 57, 

 which represents a starfish about two days old devouring 

 a young clam that it has found on the surface of the bot- 

 tom. The drawing is not fanciful, but was made from 

 the living subjects — or, more properly, perhaps, the liv- 

 ing and dead. The actual length of the clam's shell was 

 one and seven-tenths millimeters — about one-sixteenth of 

 an inch. Some of the sucker feet are seen to be attached 

 to the shell of the clam, while others are extended later- 

 ally. The faint outline of the stomach of the starfish 



