CHAPTER XXL 



Homes of the Mollusks — Gathering Clams — The Typi- 

 cal Shell — Description of Parts and Terms — The 

 Internal Organs — Food — The Foot and its Uses — 

 Lamellibranchs — The Way To Measure a Shell 

 — Anomia — The Oyster — Hinnites— The Pectens — 

 Lima. 



IN an early chapter I told of my morning visit 

 to Duxbury reef, and of the abundance of shells 

 which could be gathered on that stretch of rocks 

 when the tide was low. The first species, Crysodo- 

 mus dims, we used as an illustration of the great 

 class of the Gasteropods, and from that beginning we 

 traced the creeping, one-shelled mollusks to their 

 various homes — upon the rocks which line the shore, 

 on the sea-weeds, in the streams which come down 

 from the hills, and the lakes which nestle among the 

 mountains, in the thickets, under the tall redwoods, 

 and upon the grass of the meadows — breathing the 

 salt water of the ocean by means of their gills, 

 rising to the surface of the stream or pond for a 

 breath of fresh air, or slowly creeping along the grass 

 and occasionally opening a simple lung to the blessed 

 influences of the atmosphere. 



Ocean, stream, forest, and field each has its proper 

 molluscan inhabitants — hard-shelled, thin-shelled or 

 no-shelled — predaceous, carnivorous or herbivorous — 

 huge, medium-sized or minute — yet all having the 



