52 
skin which more or less covers the body, and is called the mantle. 
This organ has glands which secret the solid matter of which the 
shell is built and by which it can be repaired when damaged. 
Many molluses—the oyster, for instance—have no head, whilst 
others, such as the snail, are favoured with that most useful mem- 
ber. The headless fellows are, as you might infer, of lower organ- 
ization than their brethren, and they are aquatic animals with a 
shell composed of two pieces, We have no bivalves on our coast 
except common ones. You will at once think of the cockle, the 
mussel, the scallop, and perhaps also of solen and two or three 
others. The two valves of the shell are hinged and are controlled 
by powerful muscles. The scallop “ flies” through the water by 
opening and closing the valves; the mussel anchors itself to the 
rocks by means of extremely tough fibres called a byssus, while the 
cockle and the solen bury themselves in the sand. 
The cockle has a foot, and is able to leap gaily across the mud. 
I haye not yet been fortunate enough to catch the fellow in the 
very act. The solen works itself with great rapidity into the sand, 
often to a depth of afoot or more. The most interesting of our 
bivalves is the pholas. This creature is able, somehow, with its 
slender shell to bore holes not only in the clay but also in rock. 
The holes in which the animal lives and dies, are not of uniform 
diameter, but are suited to the shape of the shell. 
Lastly we arrive at the univalves. The animals are gasteropods 
or stomach-footed. Examples are the whelk, the familiar ‘‘winkle,”’ 
the purpura, and the dog whelk. Thousands of empty whelk shells 
are thrown up on the beach, and the living animals inhabit our 
rocks, The purpura claims notice as the animal from which the 
rich purple dye was obtained long years ago. ; 
The limpet is a univalve without a spire. 1¢ fixes its shell most , 
firmly to the rocks by creating a vacuum, and so bringing into play 
the pressure of the atmosphere, which, as you know, is no trifle. 
Only a word more need be said, and it is this: Some good will 
come out of our meeting this afternoon if there is stirred up within 
us a desire to dnow more about ‘‘ The wonderful works of God.” 
It was kind of Mr. Ullyet to entitle this paper ‘“‘Some of the 
common objects of our shore.” Only a few have been noticed. 
«The harvest truly is plenteous.” 
