THE STORY OF THE PECTEN. 



67 



I grew rapidly, getting my food from little 

 plants and animals that abound in sea-water, and 

 as I kept enlarging my pretty shells, they never 

 failed to cover me when I wished to be alone. I 

 have heard that our shells have been used for 

 many purposes by men and women, and of course 

 the children al- 

 ways love to find 

 them, and use 

 them for spoons 

 and dishes. 



An old crab 

 told me that one 

 day he found a 

 book lying open 

 on the rocks. Of 

 course he could 

 not read it, for it 

 was not written 

 in crab language, 

 but he did look Figure 25 - 



at the pictures, and he declares that one of them 

 was of a pilgrim with a shell like ours in his hat. 



He also saw pictures of needle-books and pin- 

 cushions with scallop-shells on the sides. You 

 know that some people call us scallops, though we 

 really prefer to be known as pectens. 



