432 ANNUAL BEPOkT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



from the sense organs of the ruff, but govern the multitude of muscle 

 fibers which form the foot. 



Scattered all over the exposed parts of the body are long spindle- 

 shaped cells which may respond to such mechanical and chemical 

 stimuli as to make of them indefinite end organs of touch and smell. 

 In the floor of the mantle cavity a water-testing sense organ, the 

 osphradiimi, extends along the base of each gill. The cells of this 

 simple end-organ are chemically stimulated in such manner that the 

 abalone has sensations of smell, warning it to shut off the incurrent 

 water when foul or containing some poisonous matter. 



If a piece of kelp is held motionless in front of the body, the ani- 

 mal soon responds by reaching out the cleft anterior portion of the 

 foot. These fingerlike processes grasp the seaweed and pull it back 

 beneath the mouth and foot, where it is firmly held. Cells in the 

 mucous lining of the mouth cavity are stimulated so that the animal 

 gets the sensation of taste. Covering the tongue is a long horny, 

 filelike structure, the radula, with many thousands of chitinous teeth 

 symmetrically arranged in transverse and longitudinal rows. The 

 teeth are pointed backward, and as the tongue is thrust out and drawn 

 in the radula rasps a hole in the succulent kelp, carrying the frag- 

 ments of food to the opening of the gullet. Two chitinpus jaws, one 

 at either side within the mouth, but united in the midline, serve as 

 scrapers to hold back in the mouth cavity the particles of food ad- 

 hering to the radula. This method of feeding abalones individually 

 by hand is of importance in easily caring for the animals in confine- 

 ment in aquaria or in inclosed pools or live boxes in marine farming. 



As food the abalone is one of the best of our marine mollusks. De- 

 tached from the shell, the visceral mass and mantle fringe are 

 trimmed off from the large central muscle, which is then cut trans- 

 versely into slices. These small steaks, when beaten four or five 

 times with the flat side of a meat cleaver and then fried in butter, 

 are tender and delicious. The meat is also equally delectable when 

 served as a chowder or minced. Besides supplying the local market 

 the mollusks may be shipped across the continent, for when individ- 

 uals are placed one on top of the other, in a sort of a living nest, they 

 will survive for as long as six days without water, feeding upon the 

 organisms and organic slime covering the shells upon which they 

 rest. While the American market is not suJSiciently developed to 

 create an active demand for fresh abalones yet in a dried state many 

 are shipped to China. After being gathered from the rocks by the 

 diver and taken into camp, the shells are removed and the abalones 

 thrown into vats of salt water and left for two or three days. In 

 this manner, the pigmented mantle fringe is removed and the meat 

 preserved. The abalones are next washed in large tubs by means of 

 wooden paddles and then cooked for one half hour in water almost 



