. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE WATERING-POT SHELL. 355 We now come to the well-known SolenicL'fi, or Razor-shells, so called on account of their shape. These curious mollusks always live buried in the sand in an upright position, leaving only an opening shaped like a key-hole, Avhich corresponds with the two siphon tubes. Those who are fond of examining the sand and rocks at low water will doubtlessly have been startled and amused by little jets of water which spirt some few inches in height, but never reappear. T
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE WATERING-POT SHELL. 355 We now come to the well-known SolenicL'fi, or Razor-shells, so called on account of their shape. These curious mollusks always live buried in the sand in an upright position, leaving only an opening shaped like a key-hole, Avhich corresponds with the two siphon tubes. Those who are fond of examining the sand and rocks at low water will doubtlessly have been startled and amused by little jets of water which spirt some few inches in height, but never reappear. These are caused by the Razor-shell ; and if the locality whence the Jet started be watched, the little keyhole-like orifice will be seen. To catch the mollusks that emitted the water is no easy task, but may be managed in two ways. The simplest but roughest method is to take an iron rod hooked at the end, plunge it into the sand like a harpoon, and pull it out smartly in an oblique direction, bringing with it the shell. This method, however it may answer for those who only want the creature for the purpose of eating the animal, or using it as bait, is by no means suited to those who wish to capture the inhabitant uninjured and to experimentalize upon it. These, therefore, must employ a different plan. In the next family, called Gaper Shells, because the valves when closed do not iinite completely, but leave a moderately wide aperture at the hinder part, the shell is strong, thick, and opaque ; the foot is comparatively small, and the siphons are united and retractile. The Gaper Shell inhabits sandy and muddy shores, and is especially fond of frequenting the brackish waters of river- mouths, where the streams are sure to bring with them a soft deposit of mud and sand. The species which is represented in the engraving burrows nearly a foot in dejith into the sand, and is able to breathe and gain subsistence by the long siphons, which just protrude above the surface. In looking at
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
