38 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



a mistake had been made, and that the clam was 

 not new at all. It was only the soft-shelled clam 

 of the Atlantic. 



It is almost certain that a few had been brought 

 with the young oysters, and that they had multi- 

 plied rapidly and spread to other parts of the bay. 

 Figure 13 is a picture of the inside of one of the 

 shells. Its Latin name is Mya arenaria. 



Since that time they have increased exceedingly, 

 and have gone wherever they could find good 



ground to live 

 in, and now mil- 

 lions of them in- 

 habit the great 

 mud-flats which 

 are laid bare by 

 the fall of the 

 tides. 

 The young oy- 



Figure 13. 



sters, as we have 



learned in the last chapter, are tender creatures, 

 and most of them seem to perish before they get 

 their shells. But it is not so with the clams. 

 Their young ones seem to delight in the cool 

 waters of the bay, and they speedily find a good 

 field of mud, and begin to grow and dig and 

 build a good pair of shells. 



