28 



LIVING CREATURES. 



The long clam burrows in the sand, as John Smith 

 intimated. How a shell can do such work could never 

 be guessed if it were always found closed. Here then 

 is a picture of the clam in action 

 precisely as it works in the sand. 

 Its front end is down, its rear 

 end is up. But what is the long 

 thing sticking up, and the short- 

 er thing sticking down? The 

 former is called the neck, and 

 the latter the foot. Leaving the 

 neck to be described further on, 

 let us look at this foot. 



A remarkable member is the 

 foot. It never walks. It only 

 digs ; and it digs so rapidly, that 

 one trying to catch this clam with 

 a hoe must work briskly, or the 

 foot will bore its hole in the sand 

 faster than the hoe can uncover 

 it. The fresh-water clam, or mus- 

 sel, uses its foot for furrowing or 

 plowing the bottom, but never 

 for burrowing. Besides acting as 

 a spade or auger, this foot carries 

 the ear of the clam. At the 

 slightest noise, the foot and neck 

 are drawn in, and the shell is 

 ciam m Action. c l os ed. There is another and 



still stranger thing about the clam's foot. It is close 

 by the brains of the animal. Therefore Rev. Mr. 

 Lockwood pleasantly says of the long clam's brother, 



