MUSSELS. 



NE of the most devoted rock-lovers to 

 be found in the whole ocean is the 

 mussel. It seems to know that 

 it must make itself fast to a 

 rock, and it is due to this in- 

 stinct that the mussel is able 

 to live in very rough water, 

 and to safely keep house where 



many other mollusks would shortly lose their 



lives. 



The common mussel of the Pacific coast has 



been known for a long time. As early as 1789, 



Captain George Dixon wrote home to England 



that he had found on our northern coast a kind of 



mussel very much larger 



than those of Europe. He 



wrote that he had seen 



one shell that was nine 



and one half inches in 



length; and he added that 



the natives sharpened these 



shells to a fine point and 



REFERENCE TOPICS. 



Tools made from shells. 

 Early voyages to this 



coast. 

 Epidermis. 



Structure of wharves. 

 How creatures bore 



holes. 



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