360 The Clam-Worm. [April, 
pendages of trilobite and in particular of Asaphus platycephalus 
Stokes, as published by him in 1871. The other bears the title, 
“Notes on the appendages of Trilobites. Note to accompany 
three woodcuts of Asaphus megistos, a trilobite discovered by Mr. 
James Pugh, near Oxford, Ohio, in the upper portion of the 
Hudson River group.” The figures are a reproduction of Mr. 
Mickleborough’s. 
` A. H. Worthen, in Bull. No. 2 of the Illinois State Museum 
Nat. Hist., publishes descriptions of two new species of Crusta- 
cea, fifty-one species of Mollusca and three species of Crinoids 
from the Carboniferous formation of Illinois and adjacent States. 
No illustrations whatever accompany these numerous descrip- 
tions. 
vat 
THE CLAM-WORM. 
BY SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, PH.D. 
wo at low tide on the wet flats of the New Jersey 
shore, the stranger is surprised by little spurts of water 
suddenly springing from the sand. These jets reveal the hiding 
places of the soft clam, or “ nanny nose,” a corruption of the In- 
dian name “ maninose.” This discharge of water at the approach 
- of footsteps, thus betraying its retreat, is an act which the mol- 
lusk cannot help. The home of the bivalve is often many inches 
deep in the sand, but the extensile siphon must reach the surface. 
Alarmed at the tremor of the sand caused by the approaching 
steps, this organ is so rapidly withdrawn, even down into the 
valves at the bottom of the perpendicular burrow, that the sud- 
den collapse expels the water with which the siphon and other 
cavities of the body are filled. Without such result the rapid 
retreat of the siphon from harm’s way would be impossible. 
After one of these squirts I have dug fully fourteen inches deep, 
and found the clam with all its parts snugly tucked within its two 
valves, 
The water ejected as described is simply the fluid which was 
taken in before the tide went out. If the observer will be quiet 
and keep motionless for a few minutes the clam may soon regain 
its confidence, and the tip of the siphon, with its two pretty ori- 
fices—the inlet and the outlet, again appear at the little hole in 
the sand. Now let one’s foot be moved, and again the siphon is 
