. Shells and sea-life. 74 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. If you examine the organs of a mussel, you willfind that the flesh is of a bright orange are four gills, two on each side, looking likedelicate ribbons. These gills are the organs bywhich it breathes, and they also help gather itsfood. The outside of the shell is covered with ahorny 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
. Shells and sea-life. 74 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. If you examine the organs of a mussel, you willfind that the flesh is of a bright orange are four gills, two on each side, looking likedelicate ribbons. These gills are the organs bywhich it breathes, and they also help gather itsfood. The outside of the shell is covered with ahorny 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 bepoisonous to men, and this fact should make onecareful about eating too many, until they have beentested. At most times they have a delicious flavor. Besides the common mussel, there are severalothers which have similar habits. One of theselives in San Francisco Bay, and attaches itselfto the piles which support the wharves. Itsshells are small and smooth. Another kind isknown as the Horse-mussel. One of these is MUSSELS. 75
Size: 2723px × 917px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmollusk, bookyear1901
