HALF AN HOUR WITH SHELL-FISH (BIVALVES). 213 



margin. This is the mantle, and it is generally 

 painted with rich colours, in irregular patterns, 

 often of spots and marbled clouds of black on a rich 

 green ground, or pearly green clouds on flesh colour 

 sometimes pale yellow clouds on velvet black ; but 

 these hues have no perceptible relation to those of 

 the shell. Looking closely, you see that the mantle 

 is not single, but composed of two curtains, whose 

 edges meet in the middle. And now these are 

 slightly separating, and giving us a peep into the 

 interior. But the most notable thing we see is the 

 array of long white taper tentacles which proceed 

 from each edge, and wave to and fro in the clear 

 water; while another row of similar organs, but 

 larger, is affixed to each curtain along the line where 

 it starts from the shell. And along this same line, 

 scattered between the bases of the larger tentacles, 

 there is a row (and a corresponding one on the 

 other curtain) of beads, which seem to be turned 

 out of the richest and most lustrous gems. Even 

 the unassisted eye is arrested by their flashing 

 brilliance, but with a powerful lens they look like 

 rubies set in sockets of sapphire, from which the 

 light blazes forth in incomparable brilliance ! These 

 are the Pecten's eyes, each of which possesses all the 

 parts requisite for perfect vision." 



It may be that the observant sea-side visitor, in 

 the course of rambles, stumbles across a piece of old 

 wreck that has been cast ashore. The thought is 

 suggested as to the fate of the goodly ship to which 



