and then out through the upper siphon. 

 Particles of organic matter and oxygen 

 are taken out, and the body wastes are 

 gotten rid of. Hence clams are natural 

 filters and help to keep streams and 

 ponds free from decaying matter. These 

 currents may be seen if a bit of coloring 

 matter be placed near the siphons. Clams 

 have been known to remove the bacteria 

 of disease from the water. 



Such a sluggish animal as a clam 

 needs a heart to^ propel its blood through 

 'the body. This organ is found on the 

 upper side in a thin-walled chamber. It 

 is quite complex, and strange to say, the 

 intestine runs right through it. It may 

 be seen pulsating if the body is carefully 

 removed from the shell. There is a kid- 

 ney, and a simple nervous system. One 

 more important organ completes our 

 mollusk's anatomy — a foot. But this 

 name conveys little notion of the mem- 

 ber. At the anterior end of the fleshy 

 body between the gills is a mass of white 

 muscle, body and muscle together having 

 a plow-share-like form. This muscle is 

 the foot; it is highly contractile. It can 

 be extended out between the cleft formed 

 by the valves, and by this means the clam 

 can slowly pull itself, front end first. So 

 the animal is not quite stationary, but 

 may seek new feeding grounds. You 

 may sometimes see their tracks in the 

 sand, thin, irregular lines or furrows. 

 In winter they bury themselves deep, and 

 lie dormant. 



Such was the condition and the life of 

 the subjects of our sketch up to a cer- 

 tain day last fall which we hardly know 

 whether to characterize as fortunate or 

 unfortunate. To the banks of the stream 

 where they were living , we suppose 

 placidly, contentedly, and as happy as 

 clams, came one day Mr. A. A. Sphung 

 of North Judson, Indiana. The clams, 

 who had now grown to the magnificent 

 length of four inches,, and were fair 

 to look upon, were seen by the sharp 

 and experienced eyes of Mr. Sphung, 

 collector and preserver, and their 

 "points" at once appreciated. They were 

 lifted from their comfortable beds into 

 a boat with scores of their associates. 

 Fortunately their captor was collecting 

 that day, not preserving, and they were 

 allowed to live. But the pleasant stream 

 was exchanged for a crowded tank, and 



life became precarious. Here they 

 waited for the next thing to turn up, and 

 the unexpected happened. 



Somewhat earlier than this, an event 

 occurred far away from the ancestral 

 home destined to change entirely the 

 course of life of these now famous clams. 

 In a certain town in Wisconsin, it 

 entered, like a happy inspiration, into 

 the heads of certain wise persons having 

 at heart the education of the youth, that 

 the young people under their charge were 

 getting but a one-sided preparation for 

 the duties and responsibilities of citizen- 

 ship because they were not being in- 

 structed in the mysteries of animal life 

 commonly known as the study of Zool- 

 ogy. So Zoology was added to the school 

 curriculum. Now clams have an impor- 

 tant and time-honored place in the 

 scheme of animal life, though this fact is 

 often overlooked by polite society. They 

 are universally distributed, their lineage 

 they can trace back to almost the begin- 

 ning of things ; indeed they were an old 

 and established family before the up-start 

 vertebrates had gained even recognition 

 among the first families of the earth. 



But by the time this momentous de- 

 cision had been reached, the clams of 

 the region, either because of the coolness 

 of the weather, or because they had had 

 some occult warning, had prudently 

 buried themselves ; and so only the empty 

 shells of departed clams met the eager 

 eyes of the boys and girls of the Zoology 

 class who had been exhorted to hunt for 

 specimens for study. As a last resort, 

 an appeal was made to Mr. Sphung, a 

 man already known to the initiated, and 

 he, for the small consideration of twenty- 

 five cents (20% discount when the 

 money accompanies the order), gladly 

 acquiesced, and boxed up our friends and 

 eleven of their feliow captives, close 

 packed in damp excelsior — thirteen in all, 

 good measure, to allow for accidents 

 on the w^ay. Through Indiana and Illi- 

 nois the Adams Express carried them 

 safely and delivered them over to the 

 United States Express, neither company 

 failing in their haste to get the box 

 labeled "live clams" off their hands, to 

 charge a generous toll. An interested 

 and curious expressman with his big book 

 delivered them to the zoological labora- 

 tory where they were expected. A still 



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