94 THE HALL OF SHELLS. 



what did you mean by saying that about 

 Venus turning Crustacean baby tender ? " 



" The shell in which the baby crab is rock- 

 ing is called Venus Californiensis,^'' said her 

 cousin, " and all the shells of this family were 

 long ago dedicated to the sea-bom maiden 

 Venus, whom the doctor told you about some 

 time ago, only he called her Aphrodite, the 

 name the old Greeks gave her. Many of the 

 shells of this family are among the most beau- 

 tifully colored and sculptured as well as the 

 most graceful in shape, and as such were re- 

 garded fitting offerings to the goddess who was 

 said to surpass all others in grace and beauty. 



" Clams of different varieties are abundant 

 in salt water, some with shells heavy and 

 rough, others thin almost to transparency and 

 beautifully tinted. The round clam, known on 

 the Atlantic coast as quahog and valued as 

 an article of food, furnished the famous purple 

 wampum from the margin of its shell. This 

 violet wampum was counted twice as valuable 

 as the white by the aborigines, and its money 

 value has been commemorated in the name V. 

 meTcenaria, by which this clam is called. 



" The solid shells of the surf clam, Mactra 

 soUdissima, were used by the same Indians as 

 hoes for cultivating their maize fields. 



