Image from page 43 of “The animal life of our seashore. With special reference to the New Jersey coast and the southern shore of Long Island” (1888) – more Marine Life goodness curated by www.SardineRunPE.co.za
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Identifier: animallifeofours00heil
Title: The animal life of our seashore. With special reference to the New Jersey coast and the southern shore of Long Island
Year: 1888 (1880s)
Authors: Heilprin, Angelo, 1853-1907
Subjects: Marine animals
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Company
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries
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Text Appearing Before Image:
body and foot of the animal, the part which isso generously partaken of by all lovers of theshell-fish. Into this fleshy mass the aperture ofthe mouth opens, and in it is contained the greaterpart of the alimentary tract. At the back of theanimal the mantle-margins are united to one an-other, and the mantle is itself drawn out into adouble tube or siphon, through which waterenters and leaves the interior of the shell. Notall bivalves have these siphons, but where theyare well developed and retractile, a peculiar inflec-tion may be observed in the impressed line which 34 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. on the interior of the shell connects the adductorimpressions. This sinualinflection, or pallial sinus,is one of the most important characters to be notedin the shell, since it serves to indicate a prominentfeature in the structure of the animal. We recognize two hard-shell clams on our coast,one having an obliquely oval shell, the quahog{Venus mereenana), and the other, with a more nearly
Text Appearing After Image:
SuKF-CLAM {Maclra tsolidissima). triangular or equilateral shell, the Mactra (MacirasoUdissiina). The former is the edible species, al-though by some the Mactra is not completely de-nied a hearing. The latter, also known as thesea-clam or surf-clam, inhabits the sandy coasts,w^here it lies buried just beneath the surface;but it may be occasionally seen skipping about THE SHELL-FJSII OF THE COAST. 35 by means of its active and greatly elongated foot.It seems never to construct a permanent burrow,thus differing from the long-clam or sand-clam, to be noticed hereafter. The shells, which,when full grown, measure as much as six inchesin length and four inches in height, were formerlyused by the Indians as hoes in the hilling of corn.Two smaller species, Madra ovalis and M. lateralis,are abundant at some tides. The round clam or quahog, which is the clam ofthe INew York and Philadelphia markets, inhabitsthe muddy bottoms of bays more particularly from
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