THE STORY OF THE PECTEN. 65 



brothers did not escape, but I did, and in a few 

 moments I was down in the deep water where 

 everything is quiet and still. 



That night, before I went to sleep, I spun some 

 strong, silky threads with my one finger, and fas- 

 tened myself to the stem of a great seaweed, so 

 that I would be safe even if a great storm should 

 arise. You can see the little notch in one of my 

 shells, where I put out my finger and made fast 

 my threads. It is just under one of the " ears " of 

 the shell, and you can find it in Figure 23. 



Well, I lived down in the water for a good many 

 months, and I saw many things that you would 

 like to see. There was a whole bed of my brothers 

 and sisters around me, and all sorts of funny 

 things used to come to visit us. Sometimes a big 

 jelly-fish would swim by, looking for all the world 

 like a glass umbrella. We seldom spoke to the 

 jellies, for they seemed rather vain of their long 

 trains, and we did not care to encourage them. 



But they had some little cousins that were the 

 prettiest creatures we ever saw. They have a very 

 long Greek name, beginning with C, but we always 

 called them " sea-fairies. " They have a round 

 body, about as big as a small marble, and it is just 

 as clear as a diamond. They swim by means of 

 little rows of fringes on their bodies, and some of 



W.S.R. VOL. 8 5 



