THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 48 
Pl. 2, Fig. 1), whose long and narrow parallel-sided 
shell is familiar to almost every one on the beach. 
The clean pinkish- or yellowish-white flesh, the 
greater portion of which forms a narrow cylindrical 
‘foot,’ is even now esteemed a delicacy by many. 
The animal may be found at low-water mark, buried 
almost vertically in the sand, and to a depth not 
seldom of two or three feet. Where thus deeply 
buried it comes frequently to the surface, so that 
it may receive the necessary food-supplying water 
through its short siphonal tube. It has been ob- 
served that the razor takes cognizance of passing 
shadows on the water, as when the hand is passed 
over the position occupied by the siphonal orifices, 
and this, too, when the rest of the animal is com- 
pletely covered over. The supposition that the 
animal was by some means enabled to see from the 
rear will to most persons appear erratic; never- 
theless, careful examination of the siphonal margin 
has revealed the existence there of minute black 
specks, which appear to have the structure of visual 
organs. Thus we are taught that the special sense 
organs need not be situated in the head, a condition 
which also obtains with many other forms of ani- 
mals. A second species, allied to the preceding, is 
the green razor (Solen viridis), which rarely attains a 
length much exceeding two inches, while the for- 
mer not infrequently measures full six inches. 
Several other species of bivalves have more or less 
the elongated form of the razor, but in none does 
the shell attain the proportional length seen in that 
species. Hye-specks, of an orange color, are pres- 
