52 MUSSEL AND COCKLE. 



attention, and here we find the Common or Edible Mussel, 

 (J/, ediile,) and ninny other species, in all of which the shell 

 is more or less elongated, or lengthened out, and pointed at 

 onG end. The members of this family arc abundant on most 

 rocky coasts, where facilities are afforded for the mollusks to 

 moor themselves to rocks, stones, and other substances covered 

 at high-water, but left dry by the retreating tide. They are 

 not, however, confined to shores of this description, but are 

 sometimes found in vast numbers on low sandy or pebbly flats, 

 whicli run far out into the sea; these are called beds of Mussels, 

 and are, like the Oyster grounds, specially cared for and pro- 

 tected. As a ship by its cable, so commonl}' tlie Mussel, by 

 its bissus or lx?ard, is made fast to its anclioragc-ground, be it 

 j)ebbly or sandy beach, or jutting rock. Sometimes, however, 

 the mollusk travels, and this is liow it manages to do so; it 

 has a stout fleshy foot, in shape something like that of a 

 chubby child, and this it can advance about two indies be- 

 yond the edge of the shell, then fixing tlie point of it to a 

 piece of rock or any otlier body, and contracting it, the shell 

 is drawn onward, and sure, though slow, progress is made in 

 any desired direction. The Pinna, as the marine Mussel is 

 called, has a foot which is cylindrical in shape, and has at 

 the bottom a round tendon, almost as long as itself, the use 

 of which appears to be to gather in and retain the numerous 

 threads with which, when inhabiting the shores of tempestuous 

 seas, it lashes itself fast to the fixed objects around; these 

 threads are fastened at various points, and then drawn tight 

 bv tlie animal, whose instinct teaches it that its brittle shell 

 would soon be broken in pieces, if suftered to roll hither and 

 thither at the mercy of the waves. 



The Mussel has a very curious method of preparing its 

 cable for this service; it is not woven, nor spun, nor drawn 

 out of the body, like the web of the spider, but produced in 

 a liquid form, and cast in a mould which is formed by a 

 groove in the foot, extending from the root of the tendon to 

 the upper extremity; the sides of this groove are formed so 

 as to fold over it and form a canal, into which the glutinous 

 or sticky secretion is poured; there it remains until it has 

 dried into a solid tliread, when the end of it is carried out 

 by the- foot, and a2)plied to the object to which it is to be 



