. Shells and sea-life. ew ofour near relatives, are the only bivalves in theocean that have the power to swim freely when-ever they choose. THE STORY OF THE PECTEN. 69 Some of my relatives have shells that arefully six inches across, while others are tinylittle things not larger than a dime. But ouroddest relative is the rock-oyster, or winter-shell,as some people call 20 shows you howhe looks, and he may befound all along the coastof California. When his children areyoung, they look like lit-tle yellow-shelled pectens,and they swim about andmoor themselves as we after a whil
. Shells and sea-life. ew ofour near relatives, are the only bivalves in theocean that have the power to swim freely when-ever they choose. THE STORY OF THE PECTEN. 69 Some of my relatives have shells that arefully six inches across, while others are tinylittle things not larger than a dime. But ouroddest relative is the rock-oyster, or winter-shell,as some people call 20 shows you howhe looks, and he may befound all along the coastof California. When his children areyoung, they look like lit-tle yellow-shelled pectens,and they swim about andmoor themselves as we after a while they growweary of a wandering life,and then they settle downin an old abalone-shell ora hollow place in somerock, and cement one of their shells firmly to thenew support. As time goes by, they enlarge their shells onwhatever side there is the most room, and so whenthey get to be old, some are long and narrow, someround and flat, while others are cramped or halfdoubled up. And as soon as they settle down they close up. Figure 26. 70 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. the finger-hole, for they have no more need tospin anchor-threads; but you can always see onthe shell the place that used to be open. You cantell their shells, even if they are old and broken,for they always color the part next to the hingewith a rich purple that never fades or washes , good by, now, for I must go, or the tidewill leave me high and. dry. When I am deadyou may find my shells washed up on the you do find them, please put them in your cab-inet with a proper label; and whenever jou lookat them, think of me, and of my little story aboutthe pectens. BLACKBOARD WORDS. vigorously (vigor-us-ly), commotion (k6m-moshiin),escalloped (es-kolupt), ancestors (anses-terz), colonies(koro-niz), bivalves (bivalvz), delicacy (deli-ka-sy). MUSSELS.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmollusk, bookyear1901
