The Cockles. Heart Shells 



All sorts of fancy articles, pincushions, purses, even shell flowers, 

 are made of cockle shells. Length and width, 2 inches. 



Habitat. — Europe. 



The Spiny Cockle or Red Nose (C. aculeatiim, Linn.) is a 

 big, red mollusk in a spiny, broad-ribbed shell, yellow, tinged red. 

 The bright red foot is long and pointed, which accounts for its 

 name. Length and width, 3 inches. 



Habitat. — Irish Channel. 



The Giant Cockle (C. lima, Linn.) is as big as a cocoanut; 

 the shell has a capacity of a quart or more. Its ventricose valves 

 are scored with wide, shallow ditches between low flat ridges, 

 smooth and polished, and pink shading darker toward the margins. 



Habitat. — East coast of Africa. 



The Large Cockle (C magnum, Born.) is ours, and few cock- 

 les or other bivalves in the world excel it in size and beauty. 

 It is roomy, somewhat oblique, and flattened posteriorly. Its 

 ribs are close, deep, and flat, crenulated on the anterior area. 

 The yellowish brown surface is painted with scattered spots of dark 

 or purplish brown. The posterior area is uniformly dark. Ribs 

 35. Diameter 3 to 5 inches. 



Habitat. — Virginia to West Indies and Texas. 



C. isocardia, Linn., is obliquely oval, with recurved spines 

 set on its deeply chiselled ribs. The anterior area shows larger, 

 more blunt tubercles. The lips of the shell meet in fine scallops. 

 Outside, the shell is yellow, stained with purplish brown. Inside 

 it is salmon pink shading to purple. Diameter, 3 to 4 inches. 



Habitat. — Cape Hatteras to West Florida. 



C. muricatum, Linn., has a circular outline, and thirty-six 

 ribs, all sharply cusped. The spines of the middle dozen ribs are 

 directed toward some distant object, in quite the opposite quar- 

 ter from the object at which all the other points have taken aim. 

 This gives the species its chief distinction. The yellow-tinged 

 surface is splotched with brown. The inner lip is orange. Diam- 

 eter, 1 1 to 24 inches. 



Habitat. — North Carolina to West Indies. 



The Iceland Cockle (C. Islandicum, Linn.) is obliquely 

 roundish, thin, with thirty-six flat or spiny ribs, and a prominent, 

 elevated hinge. A dark green or gray epidermis covers the pale 

 shell. Length, 2 or 3 inches. 



Habitat. — Arctic seas to Cape Cod. 



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