THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 43 



PI. 2, Fig. 1), whose long and narrow parallel-sided 

 shell is familiar to almost every one on the beach. 

 The clean pinkish- or yellowish-white flesh, the 

 greater portion of which forms a narrow cylindrical 

 ' foot,' is even now esteemed a delicacy by many. 

 The animal may bo found at low-water mark, buried 

 almost vertically in the sand, and to a depth not 

 seldom of two or three feet. Where thus deeply 

 buried it cqmes frequently to the surface, so that 

 it may receive the necessary food-supplying water 

 through its short siphonal tube. It has been ob- 

 served that the razor takes cognizance of passing 

 shadows on the water, as when the hand is passed 

 over the position occupied by the siphonal orifices, 

 and this, too, when the rest-of the animal is com- 

 pletely covered over. The supposition that the 

 animal was by some means enabled to see from the 

 rear will to most persons appear erratic; never- 

 theless, careful examination of the siphonal margin 

 has revealed the existence there of minute black 

 specks, which appear to have the structure of visual 

 organs. Thus we are taught that the special sense 

 organs need not be situated in the head, a condition 

 which also obtains with many other forms of ani- 

 mals. A second species, allied to the preceding, is 

 the green razor {Solen viridis), which rarely attains a 

 length much exceeding two inches, while the for- 

 mer not infrequently measures full six inches. 

 Several other species of bivalves have more or less 

 the elongated form of the razor, but in none does 

 the shell attain the proportional length seen in that 

 species. Eye-specks, of an orange color, are pres- 



