1358 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



That red capsicum is the foot of the animal con- 

 tained in the cockle-shell. By its aid it crawls, leaps, 

 and burrows in the sand, where it lies drinking in 

 the salt water through one of its siphons and dis- 

 charging it again through the other. Put the shell 

 into a rock pool, or a basin of water, and you will 

 see the siphons clearly. But I suppose your eyes 

 will be rather attracted by that scarlet and orange 

 foot which is being drawn in and thrust out to a 

 length of nearly four inches, striking with its point 

 against any opposing object, and sending the whole 

 shell backward with a jerk. The point, you see, is 

 sharp and tongue-like, only flattened, not horizon- 

 tally, like a tongue, but perpendicularly, so as to 

 form, as it was intended, a perfect sand-plow, by 

 which the animal can move at will either above or 

 below the surface of the sand. 



Enough of Cardium tuberculatum. Now for the 

 other animals of the heap; and first, for those long, 

 white razors. They, as well as the gray cimeters, 

 are solens, razor-fish (Solen siliqua and S. ensis), 

 burrowers in the sand by that foot which protrudes 

 from one end, nimble in escaping from the Torquay 

 boys, whom you will see boring for them with a long 

 iron screw on the sands at low tide. They are very 

 good to eat, these razor-fish; at least for those who 

 so think them; and abound in millions upon all our 

 sandy shores. 



Now for the tapering brown spires. They are 

 Turritellae, snail-like animals (though the form of 

 the shell is different), who crawl and browze by 

 thousands on the beds of Zostera, or grass wrack, 



