FI aR : G y great heart, that loved beauty and order and light, In the flowers, in the shells, aS ran ee in the stars of the night.” Mills College, 1685-1911 v, ee Gift of 4 From the Library of i Josiah Herp My Professor of Natural Science 4 é at Mrs. Josiah Keep : ge RS SSE UALR ADRES n of Molluske age: Library 4 ce Tt so ree SH : Pr ATOh ‘ =a ~*~ ae MM ortlape, Gat, | Meg dear nn, Pate. Por 24 LL —— Sr NS is Ai aN HAS ASASTEASASAS: DARA? AME ° wham Healey Dall Division of Mollusks Sectional Library SOME CREATURES OF THE SEA. WESTERN SERIES OF READERS.— VoL. VIII SHELLS AND SEA-LIFE/ BY JOSIAH KEEP, A.M. PROFESSOR OF NATURAL SCIENCE, MILLS COLLEGE Tee 5 teen” £ EF ws o* . 4 mi a ¥ £910} E+) : Mollusks ; * We Tato? et r Sof SS id ADTOTY 8861 67 AVA SAN FRANCISCO THE WHITAKER AND RAY COMPANY (INCORPORATED) 1901 CopyRiGHT, 1901, BY ; JOSIAH KEEP. ' PREFACE. It is well for young people to get acquainted with the crea- tures which are living all around them. Birds and bees and squirrels are near neighbors to a great many of us, and they will prove good neighbors or bad neighbors, to a large degree, in accordance with our treatment of them. The same is true of many creatures that are not so well known as birds and bees. It may be necessary, at times, to restrict their numbers, and always to define the limits which they must not pass; and yet, how many people in this world live on bad terms with their neighbors, both brute and human, because they do not take the trouble to become acquainted with their good qualities. A warm, generous heart is a source of pleasure which can- not be overestimated; and a narrow, cruel spirit is a source of untold grief, not only to its possessor, but also to those with whom he comes in contact. The true teacher has a great mission. It is not merely to impart knowledge; far higher than that, it is to develop life,—life that is pure, truthful, honest, loving, and happy. For such a great work the teacher needs all possible aids. We seldom love that of which we have but slight knowleage. It is the aim of this book to assist the teacher in developing the interest of the pupils in a class of animals which is not so commonly studied or so well known as some other classes. If the interest can be awakened, good results are pretty sure to follow. The author’s book on West Coast SHELLS has been consid- erably circulated and has been freely consulted by some of our young people. It cannot, however, be extensively used in the classroom, where a smaller and cheaper book would be 3 4 PREFACE. appropriate. It is the author’s hope that this little volume may give to many children a better knowledge of the life of mollusks than they would be apt to obtain otherwise, and that even dead and dry shells may awaken trains of thought, and restore, as it were, the life of the creatures which once inhabited them. The mollusks which live on the land and in fresh water have been mentioned, since very many children will have a chance to study these, who can seldom or never visit the sea- shore. The later chapters of the book are devoted largely to the other forms of sea-life which a visitor to the beach would be most likely to meet. It is hoped that this may make the book useful, in some degree, as a kind of guide to those who are not familiar with the abundant forms of life, some of which they will be sure to encounter. But few Latin names are given in the text, though they are not to be feared, and children may easily become accustomed to them; they seem, however, more appropriate in the List of Figures, which should be freely consulted. A few simple directions concerning the collection and preservation of speci- mens have been added, in the belief that they might some- times prove useful. Acknowledgments are especially due to Miss Laura M. ME.LLEN for drawings of shells, and to Miss Atice B. Tapor for the initial letters and most of the other drawings in the book; also to Messrs. J. K. Ottver and C. Bartow for pho- tographs of marine scenery. In conclusion, it is hoped that this volume may take a prominent place in that instructive series of readers which is giving to the children of this Coast such choice and fresh themes. JOSIAH KEEP. MILLS COLLEGE, CALIFORNIA, February 6, 1901. CONTENTS. THE CREATURES OF THE SEA A Group oF ROCK-LOVERS . Ta eae ies te MM Sw A CE OCHOY ta. FA ee. NS TATE; EASTERN OYSTERS. . ie, THE SoOFT-SHELLED CLAM ... . SNAIES AND SLUGS: . . . ABALONES, OR SEA-EARS... . Tuer Story oF A PECTEN . MT Gh Te We SEs Bye id wr 8S sh THE SEA-SHELL’S ANSWER. (Poem) ' FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS . A Group OF SAND-DWELLERS . A WaLK ALONG THE SHORE . Ae hay vioRe MOLLUSKS: .-i- 2a. 2! OTHER CREATURES WHIcH LIVE IN THE SEA Some Crerptna. THINGS ~. . . 2. os» % ANODE SEASIDE TAK. ~~. 5 oo. we SEAWORMS, SEAWEEDS, AND OTHER SEA-THINGS Tor Crass’ Tea-party. (Poem) .. . Some OTHER LitrLeE SEA-CREATURES How Sea-sBirps KEep House... . THE SonG OF THE SEA-BIRD. (Poem). . Sere ANAS MA-EEONS! © Gos an ae a7 MG AW eATER-PREESeOPR ms) os Re) eo lS Trin HARVESE OF THE SEA >. so. eos How To CoLuLecT AND PRESERVE SPECIMENS iFSerer WIGhRRA 2). re een (x ted oe ISS Aiken 22. |.k, ig ere ce a el ee me bo I I “I o& o> (e2) em ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE SHELIS AND SEA-LIFE, = . . -« 4. «July « eipomiapiece. SUMMER SCENE BY°THE SEASIDE .| . -se4 (ghnebe de oa ve 8 A ScENE ON THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA . . . . =. . . 24 TaEeiGOLuDENeGATE, .. & 4" . .) Vs 0 2 eR es A CHINESE SHELL-STAND NEAR Cypress Point... . 58 A>Nesting Conony Or CORMORANTS. . « 9069S) Rede SEA-URCHIN SHELLS PREPARED FOR MARKET... . . 122 SOurT HARALLONE ISLAND 2 .)° se yR pee See ee ‘Pain MARABEONE MULE oe (5° 0... eee eee BASY 45000 TN) NMST Gr, 400< een MRLs pat) alec eee SueaR-LoaAr Rock, FARALLONE IsLANDS *2) 4) “oi Seed IBRD. OCRISSS> Jo! Vt ce ee oe ts Se Be eh SAS eee SiA-LIONG: ATCRIOME =. (ets) 30s Gane ae See. A Goon Cater (Or High ).3(2 Be. saris” Sah ee for) THE CREATURES OF THE SEA. VERY boy or girl who goes to school, and is able to read this book, knows . that California is bounded on the ™ west by the Pacific Ocean. And ——— = perhaps more than half of all the boys and girls who live in the Pacific states, and J have reached the age of thirteen years, have seen with their own eyes at least a small portion of that great body of salt water which rolls and splashes against our Western shore. A great many have stood on the beach and watched the long lines of breakers come tumbling in as if they were anxious REFERENCE TOPICS. to drown everybody who — seta Pape ee | Otl The breakers. is looking at them. th- The tides. ers have never been tothe | The coast-line. open beach, but-haye seen | ech sss cretares: the more quiet waters of Bi We Aes a bay or inlet connecting | Seaside resorts. with the ocean. —And still |, “Cort istands. . The Greek language. others have spent all their pin epi short lifetime on the moun- 7 A dredge. Geology. 8 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. tains or in the valleys, away from the salt water, and have never yet had a chance to visit the coast. I hope they may, one of these days, and I feel pretty sure that they will. I had never seen the ocean when I was thirteen, but since I became a man I have seen it often, and have learned to love it very much. Suppose you try to find out what per cent of the members of your class have seen the broad ocean, what per cent have seen only a bay, and what per cent have never seen either. That will be a good practical problem in percentage. Of course, the sum of the three answers should equal one hundred, no matter what the size of the class may be. The line where the land and the ocean meet is a place where a great many creatures live. It is a pretty broad line in some places, for the tides rise and fall twice a day, and the shore at high tide may lie half a mile from the low tide-line. And then beyond this hne there is a space where the water is not very deep, though the bot- tom is always covered, and this region of shallow water is one which abounds in living things, both animal and vegetable. Then comes the deep sea, where living things are less common. One reason THE CREATURES OF THE SEA. 9 is, that it affords no resting-place for creatures that do not like to be swimming about contin- ually, while another reason is, that there is a lack of food in very deep water. It is true that some strange creatures are occa- sionally brought up from great depths, but the cold, black abyss of the deep sea will probably always remain a place of mystery, while the shal- low rim of the ocean will be better and better known as the years go by and new explorations are made. Perhaps some of you may help make them. We may say, then, that the whole shore-line of California, Oregon, and Washington is the home of countless animals. And by shore-line we will include all that space which reaches from the spray-splashed rocks on the land side, out to water which is too deep to be readily explored by the dredge. All sorts of creatures live in this sea-coast re- gion. First, there are the fishes in abundance, ranging in size from the sharks that are as long as a good-sized house, down to the smallest rock- fishes that have just been hatched from the egg. Occasionally a whale comes blowing around, or some smaller creatures of the same class, like the grampus and the porpoise. There are seals, with “ACISVUS AHL Ad ANHOS WHWWOAS THE CREATURES OF THE SFA. wet fi finny hands and fat sides, and round heads with bright eyes, which are ever looking out for fish for their Friday dinners—and every day is Friday to the seal. And we must not forget the birds, for there are thousands of them,—ducks and gulls, and divers and murres, shags and sand-pipers, and herons and pelicans; birds that dive, birds that swim, and birds that spend most of their time on the wing. O yes, the sea-coast is a wonderful place for birds, for the waves give them food in abundance. And down in the water and along the beach are all kinds of funny creatures, some with many legs and some without any. There are crabs and lobsters, shrimps and sand-fleas, barnacles and starfishes; sea-urchins that cannot run, and sea- cucumbers that are not good for pickles; sea- worms and sea-slugs and sea-pens and sea-hares and sea-anemones, and sea-almost-everything, ex- cept sea-boys and sea-girls, and in summer they are there too. Besides all these there are hydroids and jelly- fishes, and corals and sponges, and squids and cut- tles, and limpets and clams, and a hundred kinds of creeping snails. It would take you a lifetime to learn all that is now known about these creatures, and then there would be plenty left for the next 1a WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. generation to discover and investigate. Two things seem sure: that they are all having what is to them a happy existence, and that they are all living in the places which they seem best fitted to inhabit. Out of all this throng of life we may each select one particular kind, and seek to know them more thoroughly than we do the rest. I have selected the Mollusks, because they have beautiful shells and interesting habits, and because they may be found in so many and so diverse situations. Be- sides, there are a great many mollusks which do not now live in the ocean, though perhaps their remote ancestors did, away back in the dim past. But at this time we have land mollusks and fresh-water mollusks in abundance, besides the many marine forms. So it is not necessary for you to go to the seaside to gather living mollusks, and if you happen to live off in the valleys or in the mountains, you will be pretty sure to find some of them, and to have achance to study their forms and their habits. There are three classes of mollusks which live along the sea-shore, and each of these classes is further divided into many genera and species. The first class includes all those creatures which resem- ble the squid and the cuttle-fish. They have a THE CREATURES OF THE SEA. 13 prominent head, with big, staring eyes, and a beak like a parrot’s, which is surrounded by a circle of arms or tentacles, set with many hooks or suckers. While they sometimes crawl on the bottom of the sea, most of them can swim freely, if they wish to, and they have a comical habit of pouring out a quantity of black ink to darken the water when they wish to hide or escape from some enemy. They are called Céph-al-o-pods, from two Greek words meaning head and foot, because they some- times use the arms on their heads as organs for walking. The second class have very small eyes set on little stalks, and their mouths have neither beaks nor suckers, but a curious tongue clothed with very numerous little hooked teeth. They cannot swim, but they lie flat on the rocks, and creep along very slowly by means of little muscles in a disk or foot which forms the lower part of the body. When they stop moving they can hold on like a sucker, and so they can resist the force of the waves. | They are called Gés-ter-o-pods, because they creep, as it were, upon their stomachs. All the snails belong to this class. Most of the Gastero- pods are protected by a single shell, usually spiral in shape, though there are plenty of slugs, both 14 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. on the land and in the sea, that have no shells whatsoever. The third class of mollusks have no heads at all, though they all have mouths and lips, and a few of them have eyes also. They live within a pair of shells, which they can open or close at will. Most of them dig burrows with a fleshy foot shaped like a hatchet, and hence they are called Peél-e-cy-pods, meaning hatchet-footed creatures. Besides these three classes there are certain other mollusks which are seldom seen in these times, though long before man lived on the earth they were very numerous. We need not think of them now, but when you study geology you will learn a great deal about them, for very many of their shells are found preserved in the rocks. As for the three long Greek names, they are all very proper to know, but for our purposes suppose we call the three classes Swimmers, Creepers, and Bivalves; for the Cephalopods swim, the Gastero- pods creep, and the Pelecypods have double shells. Now, leaving the Swimmers to take care of them- selves in the ocean waves, we may group all of the Creepers and Bivalves into three great divisions, according to their favorite places of habitation. We will name them Rock-lovers, Sand-dwellers, and Mudsills. THE CREATURES OF THE SEA. als: Some may think that the name “mudsill” is a term of reproach. Well, it is sometimes used so, in reference to men; for no man likes to be com- pared to alog sunk in the mud; but with mollusks it is different. They are fitted for the mud, they get their food there, and they have never been known to complain of their location, or to be ashamed of their lowly home. BLACKBOARD WORDS. barnacles (biar’na-klz), hydroids (hi’droids), mollusk (mol’lusk), cephalopod (séf'al-0-p6d), gasteropod (gas’tér- 0-pod), pelecypod (pél'i-si-péd), particular (pir-tik’t-lir), tentacles (tén’ta-klz), prominent (prém’‘i-nént), genera (jén’e-ra), the plural of genus (jé’niis) ; species (spé’shéz), abyss (a-bis’). A GROUP OF ROCK-LOVERS. ID ,you ever go camping in the sum- mer? Did you and your friends ever get tired of hy- \ ing in one place all the year, and decide to take a tent and : go out to some shady spot ~and have fun and fresh air and freedom for a little while? I hope so, for there is nothing quite so good as a few days of tent life to brighten up all the rest of the year. Perhaps your tent was near a mountain stream, where you could watch the speckled trout in the deep holes; perhaps it was = in the woods. where there | ““@EE RENCE’ were great trees watching | Summer camping. over you, that. had "heen joe ae i : ‘**Sweet home.’’ growing for centuries; per- Color protection. haps it was by the sea- | Volcanoes. shore, where you could le Tide limits. awake at night and hear the waves pounding away 16 The horned owl. Air suction. A GROUP OF ROCK-LOVERS. 17 on the granite rocks or breaking into foam on the sandy beach; perhaps it was in a field, or even in a back yard; but anywhere under a tent there is a charm which you cannot get anywhere else. Now, there is a whole group of mollusks that live in tents all their lives, and they always pitch their tents on the rocks. And each tent is just big enough for one camper to live in; and if the camper grows, why, he builds on to the edge of his tent, and keeps it just big enough to cover him whenever he settles down for a good night’s rest. When you went camping you set up poles, and spread the tent-cloth over them, and fastened it all down with ropes and pins. Butour httle mol- lusk campers make their tents of shell, and they are so stiff and firm that there is no need of poles and ropes to keep them spread. You used to come out of your tent in the morn- ing and rush down to the brook to wash your hands and face. Our little campers get up too, but they always carry their tents with them, on their backs; and as for washing their faces, they never need to be troubled with that duty, for they live in the water most of their lives, and they get their faces washed with clear, cold water, whether they wish it or not. | These little campers are called limpets, and W.S.R. VOL. 8—2 18 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. their coverings are sometimes called saucer-shells; for some of their empty tents, when turned over, might be used for little shallow dishes, like very small saucers. On the coast of Mexico there are some that are large enough for mush-bowls, but they do not grow so large in our part of the ocean. A few of the tents have a kind of chimney-hole at the top, and the creature that lives in such a shell is called a keyhole hmpet. Although the opening looks lke a keyhole, there is no lock con- nected with it, but only a fold of the animal’s mantle, and it really serves as a kind of chimney or ventilating-flue for keeping the tent sweet and clean. In those limpets which have no chimney to the shell, all the circulation of water must be earried on under the raised edges of the tent. Most of these little campers have a pleasant habit of pitching their tents in the same spot every night, however much they may have wan- dered during the day. Home is home, even if it is only a little flat spot on the side of a huge cliff. And so I trust you have found, whenever you have been camping, that the best part of it all was the coming home again. Of course our limpets get hungry and must search for their food, but, fortunately, it consists A GROUP OF ROCK-LOVERS. 19 chiefly of the soft vegetable matter that is found so abundantly on the sides of the rocks which fur- nish them with a camping-ground. With their little tongues they can easily rasp off food enough to satisfy their appetites, after which they have plenty of time for rest and meditation. Some limpets camp on the stems of the big seaweeds, and have a jolly time rocking back and forth as the weeds are swayed and tossed by the waves. But most of them prefer a solid founda- tion, especially selecting those rocks which are left bare a part of the day, when the tide is low. A few, like the one in the picture (Figure 1), creep up so high that they are seldom covered with water, and seem to prefer the occasional splashing of the spray to a real all-over bath. Perhaps you have known children who were in- Figure 1. clined to sympathize with them. The color of this little limpet’s tent is a mottled gray, and as he generally lives on granite rocks, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish his shell from a little knob of rock. You will be surprised to notice how many creatures in this world are pro- tected in some degree by the likeness of their covering to their surroundings. 20 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. There are brown shells on brown seaweeds, gray shells on gray rocks, dust-colored squirrels and rabbits in dusty fields, bright-winged butter- flies on brilliant flowers, green caterpillars on green leaves, and funny little owls about the color of twilight. There are three or four fine keyhole limpets to be found on our coast. The most common one (Figure 2) is shaped like a mountain with a ~ crater at the top. You often find Figure 2. the white shells with red stripes running down the sides, looking for all the world like streams of red-hot lava. And so this limpet is called Fissurella volcano, or the Voleano shell. Figure 3 is a good picture of the Rough Keyhole Limpet, while Figure 4 isa rather small picture of a very pretty white : shell which sometimes grows as large as your & hand, and is known as the Giant Keyhole Limpet. Figure 5 rep- resents the Spotted Keyhole Limpet,which is no bigger than the nail of your smallest finger. Its Latin name, however, is as long as your longest Figure 3, A GROUP OF ROCK-LOVERS. 21 finger, so I will not give it here, but will advise 4 Wy to study the List —&€@ of Figures at the Ui iiiiwins end of this book, iii or to consult the Figure 4. books on shells in your school brary. The shell is too small to be cf much use as a tent to the little creature that carries it, since it covers only a small portion of his back. There —w>. wea few other kinds, not commonly found, =. There were only a few specimens of the strange clam, and these were not very large, but they were examined with much care. They greatly resembled the clams of Rhode Island, which are so much prized in that state, but as they were supposed to be somewhat differ- ent, they were givenanewname. This name was selected in honor of Mr. Henry Hemphill, a gen- tleman who has collected and studied our Western Se ee tia aa shells very extensively. Rhode Island clams. The first shells were | #0" Names i The microscope. found in November, 1874, | oxygen. but in a few years they | Cost of oysters. began to be very common, | —V8PPy 85 & says ae and then it was found that 37 Importations by rail. 388 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. a mistake had been made, and that the clam was not new at all. It was only the soft-shelled clam of the Atlantic. It is almost certain that a few had been brought with the young oysters, and that they had multi- plied rapidly and spread to other parts of the bay. Figure 15 is a picture of the inside of one of the shells. Its Latin name is Mya arenaria. Since that time they have increased exceedingly, and have gone wherever they could find good ground to live in, and now mil- lions of them in- habit the great mud-flats which are laid bare by the fall of the tides. The young oy- sters,as we have learned in the last chapter, are tender creatures, and most of them seem to perish before they get their shells. But it is not so with the clams. Their young ones seem to delight in the cool waters of the bay, and they speedily find a good field of mud, and begin to grow and dig and build a good pair of shells. Figure 13, THE SOFT-SHELLED CLAM. 39 The habits of the clam are very different from those of the oyster. At first they are very much alike, being tiny, swimming bodies, without shells, and too small to be seen without a strong micro- scope. At length the little oyster settles on an old shell or a stake, turns upon his side, and begins to form a pair of shells, one of which becomes attached to the support. This spot is his home, and of his own accord he never leaves it so long as he ives. He has no foot to dig with and no pipe to breathe through; so he lives by opening his shells in the water, and letting it pass over his gills, which gather any Figure 14. particles of floating food. If an enemy comes, he can close his shells, and that is all that he can do. But with the clam it is very different. His first instinct is to dig a hole and get down out of the way of all his enemies. His little tongue-shaped foot is the organ which he uses as a spade, and ina little while he is safely out of sight. 40 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. But safety is not enough. A band of robbers may be perfectly safe ina deep cave, but they can- not stay there always, unless they are willing to starve. So our little clam must have communica- tion with the sea, and must get fresh supplies from that great source of food. But he cannot conveniently come up out of his burrow, for he is getting bigger every day, and the hole by which he entered is too small to let him out. However, he has no need to come out, for he has two slender tubes attached to his body, though they are grown together so as to look like one. When the tide is out, he lies snug and quiet at the bottom of his burrow, just waiting. By and by he hears a faint splashing, and soon a cool bath of salt water comes running down his little burrow. He is happy now, for he knows that the tide has risen, and that his quarters are well con- cealed by the flowing water. So he sends up the two tubes, or siphons as they are named, though some people call them his neck, and opens their ends in the clear water at the surface of the mud. Now, on his gills are thousands of very minute hairs, called cilia, and he sets these cilia to lash- ing in such a direction that the water is pulled down one tube and forced up the other. Whata THE SOFT-SHELLED CLAM. 41 grand contrivance! for with the water there comes down a small amount of air also, which had been dissolved by the foamy waves. This air passes over his gills, which are really a series of fine tubes containing the creature’s A HENRY HEMPHILL, who now blood, and as 1t passes, livesin San Diego, California, the blood absorbs the rich has made remarkable collec- ’ tions of shells. Heisamason oxygen of, the alr, and by trade, and did not begin t] b aed to gather shells till he was of lus pecomes purilied. adult years, when he picked But the gills also collect | upatewforascientific friend. Z : Mr. Hemphill began to get in- the food-particles which terested in the subiect, and at A : = A . length devoted most of his are in the water, and roll time to the work of exploring them along to one end the shores and the mountains ? > ; for theirshells. Hespent two where they are gathered winters in Florida, collecting together by the four white for the government. He has : also explored the mountains lips, and pressed into the of Utah and Idaho very exten- : Less : sively, searching for snails, mouth, that Is ever ready of which he has found many to receive them. What a | species and varietées. He is very methodicalin his happy creature is theclam! work, and his specimens are And yet, I do not think beautifully cleaned and pre- pared for the museum. He his happiness is of a very | has probably gathered more hia i d D 9 shells than any other man igh oraer, 0 you: now living. The enemies that ever threaten the oyster can never harm the clam. The starfish cannot reach him; the sting-ray can- not bite him; he has no fear of mud, for he lives in it; and as for frost, he is too deeply buried for it to touch him. 42 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. His chief enemies are men; for they are not slow in finding out his places of retreat, and with shovels they quickly uncover his hiding-place and gather him into their baskets. His flesh, though not quite so delicate as that of the oyster, is very palatable, and a well-made clam chowder is a dish not to be despised. Another point in his favor is his cheapness. Comparatively few people can afford to eat oysters freely, on account of the expense, and no one can enter the inclosures and gather them, without per- mission from the owners of the tide-lands. But clams can be found almost anywhere along the borders of the bay, and in most places any one is allowed to dig them out whenever the tide is low. And so we see that the railroad has been instru- mental in introducing not only the aristocratic oyster, that is eaten chiefly by the rich, but also the humble clam, which now daily furnishes a large quantity of cheap and nutritious food. BLACKBOARD WORDS. extensively (€x-tén’siv-ly), Mya (mi’‘a), arenaria (dr-é- na'ri-a), microscope (mi‘kro-skop), communication (kém- mu-ni-ka’shtn), conveniently (k6n-vén’yént-ly), concealed (kon-seld’), palatable (pal’at-a-bl), aristocratic (a-ris’to- krat-ik), nutritious (nu-trish’ts), cilia (sil’i-a). SNAILS AND SLUGS. | & HERE | is an old proverb that a lazy boy ‘ is as slow asasnail. The proverb is true, but the snail is not to blame. The blame should all fall f= upon the lazy boy. The snail is ~ slow because he has no feet like the lizard, no bones and scales like the snake, and no wings like the bee. When he moves, he must glide along the surface on which he is resting, without walking, swimming, or flying. Under his body is a flat, muscular organ, some- times called the foot, and on this organ he rests while he is making his slow progress along the ground. As you look at him from above, the won- | REFERENCE TOPICS. der is that he can move at | . ice Nature of muscles. all. But if you put him | what countries have warm, moist climates? on a moist pane of glass and look through to this | whynamesarein Latin. curious foot, you will be | Habits of the blue jay. surprised to see the move- | Kindness towards ant- als. ments of the hundreds of ba 43 Dry climates? 44 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. little muscles which stretch from one side to the other. 7 When he is moving, those muscles in front con- tract first, making his body a little longer; then those farther back, and so on to the very end. You may see half a dozen waves of muscle at one time, one behind the other, and all of them slowly urging the httle body onward. You will proba- bly cease to think of the snail as slow or lazy, and will be pleased to see how rapid and perfect are the movements of the parts of this strange foot. The snail loves a moist, warm climate. His progress is too slow to make it safe for him to un- dertake a long journey in the daytime, when the sun is shining brightly, and so he does most of his traveling at night, when there is no danger of his being dried up en route. For you see he cannot carry a canteen along with him, like the camel, but must depend on local supplies of moisture. For this reason he prefers the winter climate of California to that of the summer, except in the mountains, where snows lie deep for months at a time. In such places, however, you do not often find many snails, for the climate is too cold in winter and too dry in summer to favor their rapid SNAILS AND SLUGS. 45 increase. Most warm, well-watered islands, as the West Indies, abound with snails. But in spite of our dry summers a good many snails manage to exist in California, especially in the neighborhood of the ocean, where the incom- ing fogs keep their soft bodies moist and healthy. If a dry time come, they creep into some sheltered spot, like a crack in a stump, or get under a friendly old board. Then they retreat into their shells, and spin a heavy curtain across the en- trance, to keep out the dry air and to protect themselves from troublesome intruders. They are cunning fellows, these snails. There are two kinds of creatures that are com- monly called snails: those that have shells and those that have none. Of these, the former are the true snails, while those without shells are properly called slugs. The latter are more hardy than the snails, and in some parts of California they are so numerous that they become quite disagreeable. The big yellow ones are often as long as a new lead pencil and three times as far through. Figure 15 shows the appearance of one of these yellow slugs. ase mVUNONU UL UI Figure 15, 46 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. They are very fond of orange-peel, and may often be found contentedly gnawing a piece that has been thrown down beside some path. They will also drink milk from a saucer. But, while they enjoy the aromatic orange-peel, they are nearly as willing to feast on the remains of a dead comrade; so you see their tastes are not fastidious. There are other slugs, much smaller in size, and usually of a dark color. Some of these lurk in the soil of pe hucacoits and come up at night to eat the young sweet peas or pansies, but REPS , are gone again before Figure 16. you come out in the morning to lament over your misfortune. Lay down some pieces of old board among your flow- ers, and you may be able to trap the spoilers. All of the true snails have pretty spiral shells, which they carry around with them wherever they go, as is shown in Figure 16. ». and broken by the waves and storms of centuries. All the softer parts of the rock have been gone for a long time, and as fast as new portions crumble, they are swept away immediately and made into sand or clay. The harder portions of the ledge stand out, rough and stern, and through the channels between these |“) 7’ "NCH TOPICS. jageed. remains the water. |, 22sec coast-Mues- Protective organs. surges, cool and green. Can turtles turn over? We put on our long rub- Salt and fresh waters. ber boots and wade fear- | California Indians. : Shell- nds. lessly in where the water | 707m" ; Let us spare natural ob- is not too deep, though al- | jects. ways. keeping an eyeopen.| The .. “depancses sear rent.’’ for breakers ahead; for we 50 ABALONES, OR SEA-EARS. Si) know that waves are no respecters of persons, and it would be no joke to lose one’s footing so near to deep water. Here we are at last, right in the very home of the creatures that build the finest shells to be found on our coast. They are living on the rocks all about us, and we are very glad to pay them this friendly visit; for it is far from our purpose to disturb these peace- fulcreatures. Weonly wish to see how /. they fare,and'@ observe their & pleasant sur- roundings. We notice that they are all clinging to the surface of the rocks, and that the soft parts of the animal are well protected by the thick, low- arched shell, on one side of which is a row of holes, which answer the same purpose as the chimney of the keyhole limpet. We notice, in the second place, that many of these mollusks seek for some sheltered spot, Figure 20, az WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. especially for a deep crack in the rocks, into which they may creep and feel secure from their ene- mies. Others are clinging to the under side of an overhanging shelf of stone, or are wedged in between two masses of rock that are lying close together. We will put our hands on one of those that are most exposed, and try to hft him up so that we may hold him for a little while, as we would hold a pet kitten. But he evidently is not anxious to be fondled, and only clings the tighter, and ut- terly refuses to accept our well-meant attentions. We cannot blame the poor fellow, for he has no means of knowing that we are unlike those who come to take his life just for the sake of getting his pretty shell. If we insist that we must take him in our hands, whether he is willing or not, we shall be obliged to use either stratagem or force, or per- haps both combined. So we cautiously creep up to one that has his shell raised a little, and sud- denly dislodge him with a chisel, or the broad blade of a table-knife. Very likely he will fall into the water, and we shall have to roll up our sleeves and reach for him. Perhaps even then the water will be too deep, and all that we shall get will be a cool arm- ABALONES, OR SEA-EARS. Do bath. But we try again, and at length we have a fine specimen in our hands. We notice his great yellow foot, which is made up of muscular fibers. It seems to be in continual motion, as if it were trying to get hold of something, which, in fact, is just what it is trying to do. This foot has a rim of black skin, and above this is the black mantle, with numerous little feelers arranged like the threads of a fringe. The cold-blooded fellow evidently does not lke the warmth of our hands, and so, after looking at him for a little while, we decide to see how he will behave when left to himself. We put our creature down upon a mossy rock, and sit down beside him to watch his motions. To keep him from clinging tight again, we turn him on his back; but he is no more easy than a turtle would be in that position. We see him put out his stumpy head, somewhat after the manner of a turtle, though not so far from his shell, and then his great muscular foot grows long and slender, and reaches out over the side of the shell. Assoonasa bit of it can feel the rock, it clings fast, shortens itself rapidly, and lo! our abalone is right side up, and is creeping away at a great rate. The front and back parts of the single foot 54 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. shorten alternately, and the creature moves clum- sily forward, his gait being ludicrously hke that of an elephant. We notice that his mouth is a little, puckered hole at the end of a short snout, that his eyes are very small and set on short stalks, and that he has two short, whip-like tentacles, or feelers, just above the eyes. The poor fellow travels rapidly for a mollusk, perhaps two or three feet a minute, and we are very willing to allow him to reach the water and once more feel at home; for we know that all his motions will seem more graceful and natural when he is submerged, than when he is trying to work in just thin air, such as we have to breathe. In fact, he will not lve very long in the air, nor even in a jar of salt water; and as for fresh water, why, if you feel that you must take his life, the most merciful way to do it is to drop him into a pail of water from a brook or spring, just warm enough to wade in, and he will be past feeling in a very short time. Then you can easily separate the shell from the body by thrusting the end of a broad knife between the head and the shell, and loosening the great muscle which is attached to the inside of the shell. And then you can see the beautiful ABALONES, OR SEA-EARS. 55 rainbow colors of which the lining of the shell seems to be made, especially at the place where you loosen the muscle. In fact, it is to obtain these lovely pearl-lined shells that so many of these creatures are an- nually caught along our coasts. The small ones are neglected, but men go out in boats at low tide, when the waves are quiet, and with hooks and chisels on the ends of long poles dislodge them from their resting- places on the rocks and take them on board. Of late, reg- Higure 2. ular diving-suits have been used, and in some places the poor abalones have been so hunted that stringent laws have been made to prevent their extermination. It is not the shell alone that is valuable; the great muscular foot is also prized for food, es- pecially by the Chinese. Probably it was also eaten by the Indians, for along our coast, where abalones abound, there may be found vast num- 56 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. bers of old shells lying on the surrounding cliffs and hills, far too high to have been cast up by the waves. They are often mixed with charcoal, ashes, and various bones and shells, and sometimes stone tools are found near. These show that the ab- origines were accustomed to come down to the seaside and gather harvests of food from its pro- ductive sands and rocks. If you dissect the head of a large abalone, you will be surprised to see what a large ribbon of teeth you will find in its mouth, and you will understand better how it rasps its green food from the little sea-plants which grow so abundantly upon the wave-swept rocks. But the tide is coming, and soon our friends will be covered with the cool water, much to their satisfaction. We will just glance around to see what are the conditions, and then picture to our- selves their ocean home. When we, from the shore, can see nothing but the tops of a few black rocks standing out amid the foam of the waves, we know that at the base of those rocks the cool, clear water is gently mov- ing in from the deep sea, or slowly passing out as the tide goes back again. We know that a soft light comes in from above, ABALONES, OR SEA-EARS. Si that the delicate sea-mosses are stretching out their feathery arms and gently waving their bril- hantly colored branches. We know that the scene is full of hfe and action; that graceful fishes are swimming about; that companies of crabs, clad in red and green armor, are actively marching back and forth; that brilliant sponges are drinking in their food; that corals and starfishes, and seaworms and sea-cucumbers, and dozens of other sea-creatures, are all alive and active, and that their life is go- ing on as merrily as ours does at a May Day picnic. Our particular friends the abalones then ven- ture out of their cracks, and hobnob with their fellows in a sociable manner until an occasional puff of air from above warns them all that the tide is going out, and that it will behoove all that can do so to hie to safe quarters, and all the rest to veil their charms as much as possible. And so the sea weeds and mosses lie flat on the rocks, the gorgeous worms creep into their holes, the mollusks into their shells, and the fishes swim out to sea, and when we arrive with our long rubber boots, nearly everything seems to be drooping or asleep. But if itis so beautiful when it is at its worst, SHELL-STAND NEAR CYPRESS POINT. A CHINESE ABALONES, OR SEA-EARS. 59 how lovely must be the ocean home when it is covered with water; when its plants are all grow- ing, its fishes all swimming, and its creeping things all creeping. It is true that we are not fitted to live in this ocean home, and it would be a very sorry thing if we should ever fall overboard and actually enter it; but as we stand on the brink of the sea we can look off and be glad to know that under the waves there is as much beauty, and perhaps as much contentment, as there is above them. There are several different species of Haliotis, or abalone, some of which are rarely collected. Those which you will find on the shore, or which you will see in small collections, will probably all belong to one or more of three species. The name Haliotis is the Greek for ‘‘Sea-ear,” and these creatures are so called because the shells somewhat resemble a huge ear. The most common kind in southern California is the Green Abalone, shown in Figure 20. The outside of the shell is of a dull-gray color, but the inside is of beautiful greenish pearl, shaded with blue and red. The shell is rather thin, and has about six open holes. A good-sized specimen is six inches long. The Black Abalone (Figure 21) is very common 60 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. in the vicinity of Monterey. It is commonly smaller than the other kinds, and has a dark, smooth exterior, while within it shows the rain- bow colors very plainly. Sometimes as many as nine open holes can be counted. The last kind is the Red Abalone. A good picture of the outside of a small shell is shown in Figure 22. It lives with the last species, but it grows to a much greater size, occasion- ally being as large as a 4 soup-plate. It is thick and heavy when olds (yang: wis readily distin- guished by its red edges and exterior, and by its few large, open holes. There is another kind that is found on the west coast of Vancouver Island. These shells also have a red edge, but they are very thin, and they do not grow to a great size. They very much resemble the abalones which the Japanese gather from the shores of their country, and which they Hf ahs ys —— =. < 7 “ap was \ = S68 = Figure 22. ABALONES,.OR SEA-EARS. 61 use so skillfully in making various pretty dishes and trinkets. For other rare kinds I must again refer you to the books which describe shells more fully. BLACKBOARD WORDS. abalone (ab-a-lo’ney), evidently (év’i-dént-ly), cau- tiously (ka’shts-ly), arranged (ar-rangd’), alternately (al- tér’nat-ly), tentacles (tén’ta-klz), submerged (stib-mérjd’), lining (lin’ing), extermination (éx-tér-mi-na’shun), bril- liantly (bril’yant-ly), behoove (bé-hoov’), Haliotis (hal-i- o'tis), Vancouver (van-koo’vér), gorgeous (gor’jtis), abo- rigines (ab-6-rij'i-nez). THE STORY OF THE FPECTEN. (As TOLD BY HIMSELF.) NE bright morning in spring- time I found myself swim- ming with a number of my brothers and sisters in a little pool which had been left among the rocks when the tide went down. Of SS course I did not then un- derstand that there was such a thing as a tide; the only thing I did know was, that I felt happy and that I could snap my two shells together and make myself dart off through the water at a great rate. Adter doing this adittle) |) eee eee while, I felt tired; so I just | The Pecten Shell. stopped swimming, and | © “i-f277."" found that I slowly settled | «cca-miries.°° down upon some sand that | What is a byssus? lay vat the: bottom of the)?" pool. Then I opened my meee Shell-cabinets. shells and looked out of 62 Best bait for fishes. THE STORY OF THE PECTEN. 63 the little eyes which are in the margin of my mantle. I could not see far, but everything about me looked so fresh and cool that I concluded to go to sleep for a little while, and then wake up and swim races with my brothers. I do not know how long I slept, but after a hazy dream about nothing, I was awakened by hearing a rush of water over my head, or over what you, perhaps, would call my head; for to tell the truth, I never had a head and never expect to have one. But a head is not necessary, if one has eyes and ears in other parts of his body, as I have. At any rate, I heard a great rushing sound above me, and I started up in considerable alarm and began to snap my shells vigorously. I was so light and agile that my pair of shells served me as well in the water as a pair of wings serve a bird in the air; so away I flew towards the surface of the water, which I soon found was in a state of great commotion. The little pool in which I went to sleep was now all covered, and the waves were whirling and tossing as if they intended to mix the air and water together into a kind of soda-water fizz. I have since learned that that was just what they were doing, and that air-fizz is just what a 64 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. great many creatures in the sea are particularly fond of, and that they make their homes where they will be pretty sure to — it fresh at least twice a day. But I soon saw that this ple where the waves were churning air was no place for me; so with a few bold snaps I shot off for deeper water. I was none too quick, for just as I had made up my mind to move, I caught sight of a big-mouthed creature, that men call a fish, coming straight for me. He doubtless knew that the incoming tide would startle a great many helpless crea- tures like myself, and he had come, © LZ UA NN \\ ready to swallow us as we were Yeti; \y trying to make our escape. f K\ Luckily for me, his attention was Figure 23. turned at that instant to a fat worm which seemed to be swimming just in front of me. His mouth closed on the worm, and in an instant more he was shooting upward as if he had been pulled by a string, and I never saw him again. Perhaps some of you may know why he disappeared so suddenly, and can guess what be- came of him. I was dreadfully scared, for there were other fishes all about, and I am sure some of my poor THE STORY OF THE PECTEN. 65 brothers did not escape, but I did, and in a few moments I was down in the deep water where everything is quiet and still. That night, before I went to sleep, I spun some strong, silky threads with my one finger, and fas- tened myself to the stem of a great seaweed, so that I would be safe even if a great storm should arise. You can see the little notch in one of my shells, where I put out my finger and made fast my threads. It is just under one of the “ears” of the shell, and you can find it in Figure 23. Well, I lived down in the water for a good many months, and I saw many things that you would like to see. There was a whole bed of my brothers and sisters around me, and all sorts of funny things used to come to visit us. Sometimes a big jelly-fish would swim by, looking for all the world like a glass umbrella. We seldom spoke to the jellies, for they seemed rather vain of their long trains, and we did not care to encourage them. But they had some little cousins that were the prettiest creatures we ever saw. They have avery long Greek name, beginning with C, but we always called them ‘‘sea-fairies.” They have a round body, about as big as a small marble, and it is just as clear as a diamond. They swim by means of little rows of fringes on their bodies, and some of W.S.R. VOL. 8—o 66 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. them have a pair of slender arms for catching food. We always loved to have them come and tell us stories of what they saw while they were swim- ming near the surface,—of birds and boats and bathers, and of the funny times the boys had when they were learning to swim. Sometimes they would coax us to reach out our little fingers and untie our cords and take a swim. We were often willing to do this in fine . weather, and many a famous journey we have taken, some- times visiting other species of pectens that have _ their : home far out from Figure 24. the shore. The pic- ture of one of these is shown in Figure 24. His color is pink, and his shell is much prettier than ours. Again, we would follow another kind, which look lke Figure 25, but some of them once ventured too near a piece of marsh-land, and got stranded when the tide turned. THE STORY OF THE PECTEN. 67 I grew rapidly, getting my food from little plants and animals that abound in sea-water, and as I kept enlarging my pretty shells, they never failed to cover me when I wished to be alone. I have heard that our shells have been used for ‘many purposes by men and women, and of course the children al- ways love to find them, and use them for spoons and dishes. An old crab¢ told me that one p day he found a ¥ book lying open on the rocks. Of course he could not read it, for it was not written in crab language, EN but he did look Peay at the pictures, and he declares that one of them was of a pilgrim with a shell like ours in his hat. He also saw pictures of needle-books and pin- cushions with scallop-shells on the sides. You know that some people call us scallops, though we really prefer to be known as pectens. 68 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. But the funniest thing of all was told me by an oyster, who said his grandfather had heard a fisherman say that sometimes the meats of oysters are mixed with cracker-crumbs and butter and baked in large scallop-shells, and so when they are brought to the table they are called escalloped oysters. | And he said, too, that lately the cooks leave out the shells (for which I am very thankful), but keep the name, though somewhat shortened, and so they are called “ scalloped oysters,” even if they are baked in an earthen dish. And a sea-gull once told me that he had seen shells lke ours carved in marble or fine wood and used for beau- tiful decorations. I feel that I am growing old, and that in a little time nothing but my shells will be left; so I have been asking carefully about my ancestors and my kindred, for I want to know who have gone be- fore me. I find that my family is a very old one, and that we have colonies all over the world. Our flesh has always been esteemed a delicacy, and our shells have been much admired by men. But, better than that, I find that we, and a very few of our near relatives, are the only bivalves in the ocean that have the power to swim freely when- ever they choose. THE STORY OF THE PECTEN. 69 Some of my relatives have shells that are fully six inches across, while others are tiny little things not larger than a dime. But our oddest relative is the rock-oyster, or winter-shell, as some people call him. Figure 26 shows you how he looks, and he may be found all along the coast of California. When his children are young, they look like lit- tle yellow-shelled pectens, and they swim about and moor themselves as we do. But after a while they grow weary of a wandering life, ‘ and then they settle down in an old abalone-shell or a hollow place in some rock, and cement one of their shells firmly to the new support. As time goes by, they enlarge their shells on whatever side there is the most room, and so when they get to be old, some are long and narrow, some round and flat, while others are cramped or hali doubled up. And as soon as they settle down they close up o ut / i See) BAS i x Gate Poe IS ROROS WS eN K : e, x =f ‘ i 4 << e, == a b Th e VERY: Oa ef , HS x AN POM Eee SS 5: Figure 26. 70 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. the finger-hole, for they have no more need to spin anchor-threads; but you can always see on the shell the place that used to be open. You can tell their shells, even if they are old and broken, for they always color the part next to the hinge with a rich purple that never fades or washes out. But, good-by, now, for I must go, or the tide will leave me high and. dry. When I am dead you may find my shells washed up on the beach. If you do find them, please put them in your cab- inet with a proper label; and whenever you look at them, think of me, and of my little story about the pectens. BLACKBOARD WORDS. vigorously (vig’dr-ts-ly), commotion (kém-m0’shtin),’ escalloped (és-k6l’ipt), ancestors (an’sés-térz), colonies (k6l’6-niz), bivalves (bi'valvz), delicacy (dél'i-ka-sy). MUSSELS. NE of the most devoted rock-lovers to be found in the whole ocean is the mussel. It seems to know that it must make itself fast to a rock, and it is due to this in- stinct that the mussel is able to live in very rough water, and to safely keep house where many oe mollusks would shortly lose their lives. The common mussel of the Pacific coast has been known for along time. As early as 1789, Captain George Dixon wrote home to England that he had found on our northern coast a kind of mussel very much larger than those of Europe. wrote that he had seen | Tools made from shells. Early voyages to this coast. He REFERENCE TOPICS. one shell that was nine and one half inches in | gpidermis. length; and he added that | Structure of wharves. the natives sharpened these | “pW Sreatures Pore holes. shells to a fine point and 71 te, WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. used them for the heads of their harpoons and fish-spears. “The shells are wrinkled,” wrote Captain Dixon, and if you will notice Figure 27, you will see some of the wrinkles of which he speaks. This mussel is very abundant in rocky places up and down the coast. The picture represents a common-sized shell, but in places where they are not often mo- lested, they glow much larger. The color of the shell is a rich bluish purple, sometimes mixed CAPTAIN GEORGE DIXON was the commander of a vessel named the Queen Charlotte. Captain Portlock command- ed a larger vessel, called the King George. These two ves- sels were sent out from Eng- land in the year 1785, to ex- plore the northwest coast of America and establish trade relations with the natives. The scheme was very success- ful, and large quantities of fine furs were purchased by these captains, which they took to China and sold at a great profit, The ves- sels touched several times at the Sandwich Islands, which had been discovered a few years before by Captain Cook. After sailing round the world, they returned to England in 1788. An ac- count of the yoyage was published in 1789. with white and _ brown. When they are polished, some of them are very beautiful. Like all of the bivalve mollusks, the young mus- sels are sent out into the ocean as tiny swimming things that would soon perish if they did not quickly find a place of refuge. They find this most commonly on_ the face of a rock, for they have a wonderful power of spinning a set of strong, horny threads, called a MUSSELS. 73 byssus, and fastening themselves firmly to the solid support. And so you can often find the side of a ledge that faces the sea almost covered with mussel- shells, set as closely as they can lie, and all so firmly anchored by the horny threads that you can hardly pull off one shell at a time. When the tide comes in, you can see why they need these strong anchor-chains, for the waves will sweep up and down the face of the ledge, washing away everything that is not fastened in the securest manner. But this dashing of the waves is just what the mussels enjoy. They know that they cannot be torn off; so they just - open their shells and breathe in the refreshing salt foam, which purifies their sluggish blood and brings to their mouths an abundance of food. What care they for the howl of the tempest or the dash of the breakers? They have “built their house upon a rock,” and the storm cannot harm them. —A A \ Figure 27, 74 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. If you examine the organs of a mussel, you will find that the flesh is of a bright orange color. There are four gills, two on each side, looking like delicate ribbons. These gills are the organs by which it breathes, and they also help gather its food. The outside of the shell is covered with a horny skin, brown or black in color; this is apt Figure 28. to peel off from the older parts of the shell, show- ing the purple and white beneath. Mussels are sometimes gathered by men for food, and they make excellent bait for fishing. It some- times happens, however, that their flesh seems to be poisonous to men, and this fact should make one careful about eating too many, until they have been tested. At most times they have a delicious flavor. Besides the common mussel, there are several others which have similar habits. One of these lives in San Francisco Bay, and attaches itself to the piles which support the wharves. Its shells are small and smooth. Another kind is known as the Horse-mussel. One of these is MUSSELS. (85: shown in Figure 28. The shell is thin and delicate, and you notice that the umbo, or shoulder, is not quite at one end, as in the true mussel. Figure 29 shows the shape of another small mussel, which sometimes lives un- der stones. Its shell is full of wrinkles. But the oddest of the whole family of mussels is the Pea-pod Shell, shown in Figure 30. This mussel is not content with fastening itself by threads, but it also bores a deep hole into the very rock, creeping inside as it grows, and leaving only a little opening for the water to come and go. As the shell grows larger, the creature bores deeper, and thus it passes its life safely, though _-- EE ro SEY Sie f Se \ CK 4 CK 1) Figure 30. Figure 29. Wes SASS going on in the great world! Are you not thankful that you are not a mussel? BLACKBOARD WORDS. byssus (bis’-stis). A group of threads which hold a shell toa rock, securest (se-kir’est). In the safest and surest manner. delicious (dé-lish’ts). Having a fine flavor. harpoon (hir-poon’). A spear to which a cord is attached. It is used for catching whales and seals. THE SEA-SHELL’S ANSWER. i QO SING me a song, lovely child of the sea, e For my heart seeks to fathom thy deep mystery ; And I long for the story thy cold lips could tell Of the forces which made thee a beautiful shell. Ly, O, sing of the life that fashioned thy form With such wonderful grace, and with colors so warm Has dyed thy pure marbles, that radiant they shine, Like imprisoned sunbeams; say, was that life thine? TEE: Did thy frail mollusk know, as he fash- ioned his cell, . He was building a palace within which to dwell? Did his cold heart beat quicker as each added line Made thy beauty more perfect? Was his joy like mine? Figure 81. 76 THE SEA-SHELL’S ANSWER. Th iN: Then the fair shell replied: Long ago it was said That the skeptic would doubt though one rose from the dead. Your questions are right, and the answers are plain, But approach me with faith, or your search will be vain. V. Seek for what is revealed, nor with less be content ; For with every fair form a true message is sent. Could the dull mollusk see what to you is so plain? Or could beautiful lines bring to him aught of gain? VIL. Lo, a Power divine in all nature is found; A Power omniscient, unfailing, profound ; A great Heart, that loves beauty, and order, and light, In the flowers, in the shells, in the stars of the night. YE. And this Power divine, this Heart wondrous kind, Bids us work out a message to each human mind. So we build as He guides us; and happy is he Who can read God’s great thoughts in the shells of the sea. FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS. gether and visit the mountains. You can leave the great city when the sun is getting low in the west, and cross L the bay ina ferry-boat. I will join mt you at Oakland pier, where the Ore- gon express train stands waiting, with its great engine puffing and blowing like an uneasy giant. We show our tickets and take our place in the proper car; the bell rings, and we are off. We fly through Berkeley, leaving the groups of colleges on the right, follow up the east coast of the bay, and at Port Costa our train is loaded upon the great boat and 7 ferried over to Benicia. It is time to go to bed sfisengatiekaets now, so we prepare to spend | mount shasta. the night. We travel two | Glaciers. miles while undressing,an- | “72. Om? 0 other mile while we are get- | spare the forests. ting settled in our berths; | Pearl buttons. but in a space of three Summer vacations. 73 REFERENCE TOPICS. Great ferry-boats. FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS. 79 miles more we are sound asleep, and dreaming of bells and whistles and other things that make a big noise. At Sacramento our train stops, and as we sleepily glance out of the window we see electric lights and loads of trunks, and hear the watchman strike the wheels of our car to tell whether they are sound or cracked. Then we settle back and feel so sleepy that we care but little about the other attractions of Sacramento. Pretty soon we know that we are moving again; but that is all we do know till we rouse with a feeling that it must be near morning. We look out of the window, rising upon one elbow to do so, and we find that it is already quite light, and that we are rapidly passing by bushes, and rocks, and grain-fields; and in a little while our train stops at Redding. We hastily dress, take a sniff of fresh air, and are off again. And now what a beau- ° tiful ride is before us. We are just enter- Fig. 3. ing the upper valley of the Sacramento River, and all the way is full of interest. We have left the broad plains, and now the mountains begin to close in around us. The river, that, farther down, was wide and still, Fig, 32. 80 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. is here a rushing stream, hurrying along over black rocks, making here a cascade and there a sand-bar, and playing hide-and-seek with the railroad as it dodges first to the right side of the track and then to the left. Beside the water grow the willows, and the pink azalias, and the sweet syringas. On every little island and all along the banks are the broad- leaved saxifrages, giving the river a tropical as- pect. In the still pools we sometimes think we see a big speckled trout. On and on we go, our puffing engine turning this way and that, to avoid a hill on one side and to cross a bridge on the other. As we look ahead as far as possible, we catch a glimpse of some- thing wonderfully white and wonderfully large, like a great cloud in the sky. Was it a cloud, we wonder; for it could not have been—for surely we are not near Shasta yet. But it was Shasta, all the same; and as we go on, we see it again, and know that we are really nearing that magnificent old snowy volcano. At Mossbrae Falls the water from its melting snows are fairly bursting out of the fern-clad rocks; while from the Soda Springs we take a draught of a delicious liquid fresh from nature’s laboratory. FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS. 81 And now the railroad leaves the river, for the © cafon is too deep and too narrow for river and road both, and the train creeps upward over the crookedest line in the country, till we stop at Sisson, right at the foot of the grand old mountain. It is almost noon now, and the sun is shining full on the great white fields of snow that lie above the line of green woods. Here we will stop and stay for a few weeks, and every day we shall be getting better acquainted with Mount Shasta. We will watch it in the morning, and at sunset, and by moonlight. We will gather flowers at its base and explore its green forests, and even climb far up into the perpetual winter of its glaciers. Then we shall begin to understand that if there were no Shasta, there would be no Sacramento, and that from those vast fields of » snow and ice come the pure streams 4 of water which all the summer long <—F flow joyously down to the parched Figure 35. valleys, carrying health and prosper- ity as they go. “ But what,” you may ask, ‘“‘has all this to do with shells?” In one sense it has everything to do with them; for the melting snows fill the W.S.R. VOL, 8—6 Fig, 34. 82 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. springs, and the springs fill the streams, and the streams fill the lakes and the rivers, and in the streams and lakes and rivers live the fresh-water mollusks which we are to study. So you see the mountains really give them their home. And some of them live very near the mountain. Abouta mile beyond Sisson e a great spring bursts out from the foot Figure 36. of a dry hill which is itself at the foot of the great mountain. The water from this spring is as cold as ice and as clear as crystal, and there is so much that it quickly forms a beautiful stream several yards wide. Great firs and cedars grow along its banks, red lilies and blue monk’s-hoods bloom beside its waters, while ferns and sedges bathe their roots below, and grow up green, fresh, and graceful above. And in such a beautiful home, | Wy right in the very source of the great i river, live hundreds of little black y water-snails, their smooth — shells GY shaped like Figure 32, though many _ Figure 37. of them are larger than the picture. In Oregon you find another species, with wrinkled shells like the one shown in Figure 33, FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS. 83 In many brooks you can find lively little creatures with thin, horn-colored shells like Fig- ure 34. Notice that the opening is on the left side, while almost all shells open on the right. Figure 38. Again, you may find shells that are rolled up in a flat coil, like Figure 35. The name of these flat snails is Planorbis. In some lakes, or even some ponds, there are also creatures with thin shells shaped like Figure 36 or Figure 37. These are the pond-snails, called Limnea, and they are found all over the world. 84 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. But besides all these creeping water-snails, and many others like them that I have not mentioned, there is another kind of mollusks with bivalve shells, which are sometimes found living half- buried in the sandy bottoms of rivers and lakes. They are often called ‘ Fresh-water Mussels,” though they are very different from the mussels of the sea. Two species, of about the natural size, are shown in Figures 38 and 39. Those of you who live near a lake or a stream may be able to find some of them, or perhaps other kinds. I have been told that they live abundantly in the Sacra- mento River, after it leaves the mountains and becomes quiet. Most of their shells on this coast are rates thin and brittle, on account of the lack of limestone in our mountains; but in the Mississippi Valley they are very numerous and strong, and inside these “Unio” shells are sometimes found beautiful pearls. Great numbers of these shells are now gathered and made into buttons and other arti- cles of pearl. There are also many small bivalves living in some streams. Some of their full-grown shells are not so large as a pea, but the little mol- lusks living within them are active fellows, and FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS. 85 climb the stems of water-plants with the greatest ease. So, you see, wherever may be your home, or wherever you go for your summer vacation, by Figure 39. the mountain or the river or the sea, you may expect to find some of these forms of life. As you study their habits and examine their shells, you will better understand what a wonderful place is this old world in which we live. BLACKBOARD WORDS. hastily (has’ti-ly), azalia (a-zal’ya), syringa (sir-in’ga), magnificent (mag-nifi-sént), delicious (dé-lish’tis), ac- quainted ak-quant’éd), perpetual (pér-pét’i’4l), monk’s- hood (minks‘hood), Planorbis (plin-dér’bis), Limneea (lim- né’a), saxifrage (six'i-fraj), Unio (ini-d). A GROUP OF SAND-DWELLERS. VERYBODY knows that olives grow on trees, and that they are used for making oil and also for pickling. They are small, smooth, oval fruits, ~~ and are green at first, but be- “>: come purple when they ripen. Ss 1 shore. neighbors when the parish | 7" ®US Suere 95 96 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. priest holds services within its aged walls once a year. Beneath its floor rest the bones of Junipero Serra and his associates, who spent their lives in an earnest endeavor to bring the gospel to the degraded heathen on the west coast of America. But how changed is the scene now, and how rapidly has the surrounding country passed from the Indians to the Spaniards, and from the Span- iards to the Americans. But out on Cypress Point there are still grow- ing the same trees beneath which the Indians camped centuries ago, and under whose branches the reverend monks bore the bell and the crucifix as they started out on their journey northward to establish a new mission church. Venerable old trees are these, which have with- stood the buffetings of the west winds for scores and hundreds of years. Their trunks are gnarled and twisted and severe, but their tops are ever- green, though beaten by the ocean storms into floorlike flatness. Some of them stand erect, boldly peering out over the horizon, as if anxious to catch a glimpse of some friendly ship coming in from the far west; others crouch like sleeping lions, or bring their green covering down to the very ground, like the wall of a tent. A WALK ALONG THE SHORE. 97 A solemn peace pervades these ancient groves, and the light laugh is instinctively hushed as one enters their shady portals. It is not a place for mirth, much less for sadness, but for quiet, for thoughtfulness, and for peace. Under these old trees there quietly lives a small colony of very interesting snails. We have already seen the picture of one of them in Figure 16. His ancestors were here long before mission times, but the race is fewer now than it was for- merly, for the saucy jays which flutter and scold in the green branches overhead search out the poor snails in their summer hiding-places, and break the pretty shells to satisfy their gross ap- petites. But we may find a few good specimens even yet, along with the broken shells, and we may trust that there are others left, too deeply buried for birds or boys to discover their place of con- cealment. Leaving the silent groves, let us go down to the beach and walk along its margin on our way home. Everywhere we see the work of the waves. Here are piles of rounded stones cast up by the winter’s storms; there are tangles of seaweed, which drifted in at high tide; beyond is a long beach of smooth sand, where the waves roll up W.S.R. VOL. 8—7 98 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. and down all the day long, and this stretch is bounded by scarred and broken ledges which run far out into the sea, and whose = presence may be known by the foam of Figure 48. the white breakers. Each of these con- ditions has its own form of life, and each seems ready to tell us its particular story. As we approach the water, the first mollusks we meet are the little Littorines, or Shore-shells. They are clustered on the rocks, waiting for the returning tide. There are two species of littorines, looking like Figures 48 and 49, only many of them are not so large as the pictures would indicate. They are modest little shells, of a dark gray color, "8 like the rocks on which they rest, and they are able to resist thirst and drought for a long time, as their shells are tightly shut by a close-fitting operculum. But if you put them 1m sea-water they quickly re- vive, and their little black bodies go creeping rapidly over the rocky surface, and their rough tongues rasp off the green coat- B) Ing which gathers on wet stones. J There is also a plenty of lim- Figures0. pets of different species, but these A WALK ALONG THE SHORE. 99 we have already considered, so we pass on to a group of strong, black shells whose owners have met together on the sheltered side of a big rock. They are the & Turban-shells, and there are va- rious species of these, also, — Figure 51. Black Turbans, Brown Turbans, Red Turbans, and Blue Turbans, as well as others which you do not often find. é The Black Turbans are by far the most numerous. You see a picture of one in Figure 50. Their shells are strong and heavy, enabling them to 77} resist the knocking of the waves. In- Figure 52. — side, they are beautifully pearly, like the abalone. The aperture is closed by a circular, horny front door. The little black animals are vegetable-eaters, like the littorines, and they as- sist greatly in keeping the rocks clean and fresh. A little nearer the water are the Brown Turbans (Figure 51).¢ In fact, they seldom come up far from the lower tide limits, though you may find them alive in caves Figure 53. 100 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. and pools when the tide is low. They are much prettier than their black cousins, but they are far less numerous. The Blue Turbans (Figure 52) are even more unwilling to leave the sea; but still you may perhaps find some live ones in a rock grotto, or clinging to the long stem of some sea- weed. The thin outer coat of the shell is not blue, but brown, though when it is a little worn, as around the apex of the shell, the blue pearl is seen, and a little acid brings it out very readily. Although the living shells are seldom found, the hermit crabs often bring up the dead ones, and you might imagine by the motion that the real owner was present. Out in the water live other mollusks related to the Turbans; but their shells are too delicate to be trusted near the rocks; so they cling to the great seaweeds, and come up to the surface in fine weather only. Their shells are thin and very beautifully colored. They are called Top-shells, and a picture of one of the prettiest 1s given in Figure 53. Figure 54 shows a little Red Turban, which is not so big as a pea; while the great Wavy Top- shell shown in Figure 55 sometimes grows & in southern waters as large as a quart Fig. 54. Measure. A WALK ALONG THE SHORE. 101 Figure 56 is the Smooth ‘Purban:: This; also,is found in the south, and the picture rep- resents a rather large specimen. It is of a rich brown — color, with a curious green spot in the center of the whorls; it has a singular opercu- lum, made up of rough rings. There are other Turbans and Tops, some of which you may pick up as you walk along the beach from Cypress Point to Pacific Grove; but ee whether you find these or not, you will surely see cer- tain other mol- lusks, which \we will con- sider in the next chapter. Figure 55. Figure 56. 102 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. BLACKBOARD WORDS. interesting (in’'tér-ést-ing), promontory (prém’6n-to- ry), Monterey (mo6n-ta-ra’), descendants (deé-sénd’ants), reverend (réy’ér-énd), buffetings (butffét-ings), in. stinctively (in-stinct’iv-ly), Littorine (lit’t6-rin), drought (drout), operculum (6-pér’ki-lim), singular (sing’gt-lér ), A FEW MORE MOLLUSKS. of the mollusks which are found living upon the rocks. In many places the seaweeds live there too,and when the tide is out you can see great patches of olive- ereen vegetation almost entirely covering the hard, gray rocks. The name of the most common of these plants is Fucus, and of this there are several species. Most of them contain little air-sacks near their tips, which act as floats, and assist in keeping them erect when the water is overthem. But when the tide is low, you find them lying flat on the sur- face of the rock, or hanging limp from its sides. These seaweeds are very ’ | REFERENCE TOPICS. ancient plants, and were — erowine amine ocean long: | 2 ** Sea-cradles.’’ before there were any trees Purple dye. upon the land. They doa | What is varnish? yas amonntot coed, puri-. | oo°* * Perens: Our advantages. fying the water and giving 103 104 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. food to numberless ani- mals. Some of them are even eaten by men, and valuable chemicals are obtained from their ashes, If youturn back some of these limp plants, you will probably find sev- eral interesting forms of life nestling beneath them, and among these forms will probably be a number = of mollusks. = The first are the =} — Chitons (ki’tons), a Wi some of which are |= shown in the il- lustrations. Queer creatures are these Chitons, very slow in their move- ments, shy in their habits, and, withal, perfectly harmless. They are generally found clinging firmly to the surface of a rock, Hf and often they select cracks and Z crevices for greater safety. Figure 57. Figure 58. — Figure 59, If you pry one of them off with A FEW MORE MOLLUSKS. 105 _the point of a knife, you will see that his body resembles that of a limpet, though the organs are more. simple. There is a mouth at one end, a creeping and holding disk, andamuscular mantle. The poor fellow will probably curl & 3 ny sais = aw himself S(@giere les up ina you Figure 60. do not put him back into the water, and he may strain so hard that he will break some of his shells. I say some of his shells, for he has eno bt Oot them, al- ways eight, arranged biker cake Figure 61. shingles on the roof of a house. Among the pebbles on the beach, you can often find single shells which came from Figure ez. 106 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. the body of some dead Chiton. They look somewhat like a pair of wings, and the large white ones, like Figure 57, are often called Butterfly-shells. The Red-lined Chiton (Figure 58) is a small creature with very beautiful shells, while the Gray Chiton (Figure '.59), which is much larger, has little beauty, being of a dull, ashy color. It often lives under stones. Figure 60 shows the Mossy Chiton, which is so named from the great number of stiff hairs on the border of its mantle; while Figure 61 shows a large species with very regular shells. Besides the Chitons, you will prob- ably find specimens of the Purples. There are several of these, also; a picture of one of the common ones being shown in Figure 62, and an- other in Figure 63. Both of these pictures are some- what too large for the common spe- Y cimens, but they show very well the shape and appearance of the shells. The Purples are rather active crea- Sf tures, though at low tide you will Figure6s. probably find them at rest. Figure 63 Figure 64, A FEW MORE MOLLUSKS. 107 They feed on animal matter instead of vegetable. You no- tice in both the pictures a little canal, or open tube, at the bottom of the shell. You can see the same plainly in Figure 64, which is the picture of an- other Purple. All the shells that have this canal belong to animals that are carnivorous, while those that have round openings, like Figure 56, be- Figure 66. long mostly to herb-eat- ing mollusks. Purples are so called because a rich dye used to be obtained from sim- ilar mollusks that lived in the Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps you have all read of this famous dye, which was known as *'Tyrian Purple.” The finest Purples of our coast live in the northern waters, where Figure 67, some of them are very 108 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. large and beautiful. Figure 65 shows one of their shells. There are many shells quite similar to the Purples, some of which you may be fortunate enough to find. One is the great Frog-shell (Figure epee 66). Another is Belcher’s Chorus (Fig- ure 67); and then there are many little ones, like Figures 68, 69, and 70. All of these have names and descriptions, which you can find in the books. If you now leave the rocks and go out on the sands, you may pick up a great Heart- shell (Figure 71). I used to find broken Fis. ©. ones abundantly, which had been washed up by the waves, out by the Cliff House, in San Fran- cisco. There were also many pieces of the Flat Razor- shell (Figure 72). This is a thin shell with a glossy brown covering looking like a coating of varnish. They grow abundantly on the coast of Oregon, and are the most highly esteemed of all of our clams for a delicious chowder. . Captain Dixon wrote in 1789 as follows: At the mouth of Cook’s River, lat. 59° 61’, are many species of shell-fish. Fora repast, our men preferred a large species A FEW MORE MOLLUSKS. 109 of the Solen genus, which they got in Me SS and were\\ easily dis- SSS covered by their spout- ing up water as the men walked over the sands which they inhabited.” He givesa good picture of the shell in his book, SSSERNZRH[ which was printed = more than a century ago; and so it hap- j pens that this is the first shell of our coast that was ever Figure 73. described and _ fig- ured by the original collector. Find the place on your maps where Cap- tain Dixon’s men dug these fine Razor- clams out of the sands of the Alaskan shore. The last shells of mollusks that we will consider in this book are those of the Piddocks. They are bivalves, A and have a habit of boring holes into _ Figure 74. 110 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. almost everything. A little one called the Teredo bores into pieces of submerged wood, like the bottoms of ships and the piles on which wharves and bridges are built. They are very destructive, and to protect the wood it is sometimes poi- soned or covered with sheets of copper. But the common piddocks are larger than the teredo, though | a they do not bore quite so deep Pegs holes. Those that look like Fig- ure 73 bore holes into the stiffest blue clay, from which they can be dug out by the use of a pickax. Others, like the shells shown in Figures 74 and 75, attack harder substances, and even make their burrows in solid rock. Sometimes a reef gets so full of holes that great pieces are broken off by the waves during a storm, and rolled up on the beach. You can find such pieces at old Monte- rey, with the dead shells still remaining in the burrows. When the creatures begin to bore they are very small, and as they go on, the diameter of the burrow must increase, to allow for their growth. lj a = Hy: j ——a, ~I A FEW MORE MOLLUSKS. jhe el And so it happens that a piddock that has once made his house becomes a prisoner for life. But what does he care! He is safe and quiet, and he can always pump in water with its food and air for his daily use, and with that he is con- tent. But his sphere of knowledge and activity is very, very small. Are you not thankful that yours is so much larger? BLACKBOARD WORDS. Fucus (fa’ktis), yegetation (véj-é-ta’shiin), ancient (an’- shent), chemicals (kém’i-klz), Chiton (ki’t6n), withal (with-4l’), carnivorous (kir-niv’d-ris), Tyrian (tir’i-an), chorus (ko’rtis), original (6-rij/i-ndl), diameter (di-4m’e- tér), piddock (pid’/dok). ran