Read Ebook: The Book of Shells Containing the Classes Mollusca Conchifera Cirrhipeda Annulata and Crustacea by Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge Great Britain Committee Of General Literature And Education

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 347 lines and 42168 words, and 7 pages

Class MOLLUSCA 14

Order HETEROPODA 15 The Glassy Carinaria 15

Order CEPHALOPODA 16 The Cuttle Fish 17 Argonaut 20 Pearly Nautilus 22

Order TRACHELIPODA 26 The Marble Cone 27 Porphyry Olive Shell 28 Money Cowrie 29 Diadem Whorl Shell 31 Common Columbella 31 Music Harp Shell 32 Wide-Mouthed Purpura 33 Spotted Scorpion Shell 37 Variegated Sea-Trumpet 39 Caniculated Pear-Shell 40 Babylonian Split-Mouth 40 Marble Turban-Shell 41 Imperial Top-Shell 41 Precious Scalaria 42 Iris Ear-Shell 43 Dusty Neritina 44 Viviparous Paludina 44 Lymnaea Stagnalis 45 Horn-shaped Planorbis 46 Red-mouthed Bulimus 46 Mummy Puppet Shell 47 Wood Snail 47

Order GASTEROPODA 51 The Red Slug 51 Woodlike Bulla 53 Nail-shaped Crepidula 54 Mediterranean Umbrella 54 Clouded Fissurella 54 Hungarian Bonnet Shell 55 Scaly Chiton 56

Class CONCHIFERA 57

Order UNIMUSCULOSA 64 The Horse-Foot Bowl Shell 64 Oyster 65 Great Comb Shell 68 Pearl Oyster 69 Hammer Oyster 77 Rough Pinna 77 Common Mussel 79 Giant Tridacna 81

Order BIMUSCULOSA 82 The Fresh-Water Mussel 83 Heart-shaped Isocardia 84 Wedge-shaped Donax 85 Sheath Solen 85 Date-shaped Pholas 87 Ship-Worm 89

Class CIRRHIPEDA 91

Order CIRRHIPEDA PEDUNCULATA 92 The Smooth Barnacle 92

Order CIRRHIPEDA SEDENTARIA 94 The Acorn-Shell 94

Class ANNULATA 97

Order ANNULATA SEDENTARIA 98 The Magnificent Amphitrite 98

Order ANNULATA ANTENNATA 100 The Sand-Worm of the Fishermen 100 Blood-coloured Leodice 100 Spinous Sea-Mouse 102

Order ANNULATA APODA 102 The Common Earth-Worm 103 Medicinal Leech 106

Class CRUSTACEA 115

Order CRUSTACEA HOMOBRANCHIAE 115 The Crab Tribe 117 Land Crab 124 Hermit Crab 127 Lobster 130 River Cray-Fish 131 Phosphorescent Shrimp 132 Opossum Shrimp 134

Order CRUSTACEA HETEROBRANCHIAE 137 The Spotted Squill 137 Common Cloportus 138 Molucca Crab 142 Crab-like Limulus 144 Water Flea 144 Small Water Flea 147 Hairy Cypris 148

THE BOOK OF SHELLS.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

In reviewing the first DIVISION of the animal kingdom, namely, the vertebral animals, we cannot fail to have been delighted with the wonderful and appropriate faculties bestowed upon each individual; but, beautiful and well adapted to the use of their possessors as these faculties may have appeared, our pleasure must be still greater in tracing the powers with which those creatures are endowed, which constitute what we have been accustomed to call the lower orders of animated nature.

The second DIVISION of the objects of natural history, namely, the INVERTEBRAL animals, which we have now to describe, are placed by themselves, on account of their being without an internal skeleton, consisting of a series of vertebrae, or bones of the back. This distinction is explained in the introductory chapter to the Book of Animals. They have been separated, by Lamarck, into Eleven CLASSES, namely:--

In the present little book we shall treat of the first five of these Classes.

The Molluscous animals are, on account of their organization, placed first among the invertebral animals, a few of the species resembling, in some respects, the more simply-formed fishes.

The systematic arrangement of the Molluscous animals, considered not only as regards their shells, but having reference also to the anatomical distinctions of the creatures themselves, is a modern study. In ancient authors we merely find a few scattered facts, the beauty of the shells attracting their notice more than the value or nature of the animals.

Although, at the first glance, the inhabitants of shells appear to be beings of a very uninteresting nature, a due consideration of the valuable properties of many, and the usefulness of all, will enable us to perceive, that, regarding them merely in an interested point of view, they are worthy of the strictest attention of the naturalist. In the first place, the whole of them afford food for the different species of fish, and other inhabitants of the deep. The Tyrian dye, the royal purple of the ancients, was produced by the inhabitant of a small univalve shell, of the genus Purpura. That beautiful ornament in dress, the oriental pearl, is the consequence of disease in a species of mussel, and the inner portion of the shell of the same animal, is the well-known substance, mother-of-pearl. A kind of silk is obtained from the beard of the pinna, which, in some places, is made into gloves. As an article of food we may mention the well-known oyster, the mussel, scallop, &c., and some of the larger kinds form no small portion of the subsistence of the natives of the South-Sea Islands, and the Negro population in the West Indies.

The shell with which a Molluscous animal is covered, is absolutely necessary to protect its delicate body from injury; this shell is, in general, composed of much the same substances as bone; but the bone of a bird, or quadruped, is formed by the agency of the blood, and the particles of which it is composed are deposited by that fluid, and again taken up and restored to the circulation, a circumstance which does not take place in the substance of a shell. The shell is formed by the deposition of layer upon layer, in the course of the growth of the animal, and the ridges we perceive on many shells, point out their periodical increase.

It will be necessary, when describing the distinctions between shells of different genera, to use several terms, which will, unless properly defined, be, perhaps, unintelligible to young people. The annexed diagrams will explain the meaning of those of most frequent occurrence among the Mollusca. Fig. 1, represents a univalve shell; fig. 2, another shell, of the same division, cut through the middle, for the purpose of showing the columella, or pillar. Many shells, as, for instance, the periwinkle, have what is called an operculum, which closes the opening, and protects the inhabitant from injury. In the case of the periwinkle, this lid is of horny nature, but, in many species it is hard and solid, like the shell itself.

CLASS MOLLUSCA.

In noticing the animal of a univalve shell, the part which more readily attracts the attention is the mantle, which covers the head of the creature, something like a hood; it varies much in form and size in different genera. The eyes, which in the sepia are amazingly large and brilliant, are very minute in most of the other tribes, although they are frequently visible, and would appear, from their formation, to be of little use as organs of sight; indeed, it is supposed, that in the snail they are devoted to the sense of smelling.

The organs of motion in the Mollusca, according to their different form and position, give names to most of the orders; these consist of muscular expansions of the body, by means of which the animal swims or drags itself along the ground. The gills, or breathing apparatus, are situated internally, and communicate with the air or water, by means of a small canal opening outwardly. The mouth is usually concealed from view when the creature is at rest; in some, this organ is furnished with a hard substance, which supplies the place of teeth, while, in others, it is in the form of a projecting tube. The greatest portion of these creatures are produced in the water, the tribes that inhabit that element, exceeding by far those that are to be found upon the land.

The Molluscous animals have been separated into the five following Orders:--

The creatures belonging to this order, says Lamarck may be considered as the first vestiges of the appearance of a series of marine animals, intermediate in their formation between the fishes and the Cephalopods; they are all natives of hot climates, and possess a body of a jelly-like substance, and so transparent as to be seen with difficulty when floating in the water. They do not all possess shells, and are less known than they otherwise would be, on account of the great difficulty there is in preserving them.

THE GLASSY CARINARIA,

This singular animal is rarely taken, on account of its delicate and perishable substance; it is found in the Southern Ocean. It will be seen, on referring to the engraving, that the shell which it bears merely covers a portion of its body, that in which the most material organs of the animal are found, namely, the heart and the branchiae, or organs of breathing. These are most curiously placed on the upper part of its body, projecting from it and protected by a delicately white and transparent shell, shaped like a little cap, and of a substance resembling glass. The creature is able to enlarge its body by filling it with water, and in swimming the back is undermost. The shell, which seldom exceeds an inch in length, has been sought after by collectors with great assiduity, and has, at times, fetched as much as ten guineas at a sale; a perfect specimen is very rarely met with. There is a wax model of one of these shells in the British Museum, nearly two inches wide.

The Cephalopods have been so named by Cuvier, from being furnished with a kind of inarticulated arms which surround the head. We find among this class some of the most singular productions of the waters; they differ materially from each other, and have been separated into three groups; first, those without any external shell, as the Sepia; secondly, the inhabitants of a shell without any divisions, as the Argonaut; and, thirdly, those whose shell is divided into numerous chambers, as the Nautilus.

THE CUTTLE FISH,

The Cuttle Fish, of which there are many different species, is a native of all the temperate and tropical seas. Its body is, in general, of an irregular oval shape, and of a jelly-like substance, and usually covered with a coarse skin, having the appearance of leather. Unlike all other inhabitants of the water which are without a backbone, the Sepia possesses two large and brilliant eyes, covered with a hard transparent substance.

The Cuttle Fish, figured in the engraving, is furnished in front with eight arms or feelers, with which it grapples with its enemy, or conveys its prey to its mouth. These arms are most curiously constructed, and afford it ample means of defence; they possess in themselves a strong muscular power, and this is materially assisted by numerous cups or suckers, placed along the whole of their inner surface, with which they fasten themselves to any object they come in contact with. These feelers appear to be also endued with some peculiar power, of a galvanic nature; since the pain which they inflict does not cease for a long time after the removal of the animal, leaving a kind of stinging sensation, like that produced by nettles, which remains for many hours, and is followed by a troublesome irritation and itching.

The Cuttle Fish generally remains with its body in some hole in a rock, while its arms are extended in every direction, to seize the wanderer that may chance to pass its place of ambush. Its appetite is voracious, and it seizes as its prey every living thing that it has the power to conquer.

The species figured in the engraving is very common on the English coasts, and the bone which is enclosed in its body is frequently found on the sands; it is a well-known substance, and much employed in the manufacture of tooth-powder. This bone, which, with the exception of the jaws, is the only solid part in the Sepia, differs in shape in the different species, but is always somewhat oval in its form, though varying considerably in texture.

THE ARGONAUT,

The tender Nautilus that steers its prow, The sea-born sailor in its light canoe.

He, when the lightning-winged tornadoes sweep The surge, is safe; his home is in the deep. He triumphs o'er the armadas of mankind, That shake the world, but tremble in the wind.

The curious inhabitant of this elegant shell has, from the earliest ages, excited the admiration of the student in natural history; and, at the same time, its real place in the system has eluded the research of the most acute observers. The animal agrees, in many points, with the sepia, or cuttle fish, which never possesses a shelly covering, so that, had it been found without that beautiful addition, naturalists would have referred it, without hesitation, to that particular division of the dwellers in the deep; it is, however, always met with along with the shell; and, although there appears to be no bond of union between the tenant and its dwelling, still the purposes to which it applies it, imply, at any rate, a long-continued occupancy, if they do not absolutely point out the Nautilus as the original architect of the shell.

The name Argonaut has been applied to this sea-born navigator from its resemblance, when floating on the surface of the waves, to a vessel in full sail, Argo being the name of the ship, which was supposed to have been the first fitted out for commercial adventure.

In calm Summer days, these beautiful little creatures may be seen, in considerable numbers, steering their little barks on the surface of the waters of the Mediterranean. The words of the ancient Roman naturalist, Pliny, give a pleasing description of its habits. "Among the principal miracles of nature," says he, "is the animal called Nautilos, or Pompilos: it ascends to the surface of the sea, in a supine posture, and, gradually raising itself up, forces out, by means of its tube, all the water from its shell, in order that it may swim more readily; then, throwing back the two foremost arms, it displays between them a membrane of wonderful tenuity, which acts as a sail, while, with the remaining arms, it rows itself along, the tail in the middle acting as a helm to direct its course, and thus it pursues its voyage; and, if alarmed by any appearance of danger, takes in the water and descends."

Although the Argonaut has never yet been discovered attached to its shell, some observations which have been recently made on the Pearly Nautilus, which very nearly resembles it, have almost proved that such a connexion does really exist. But whether the shell is formed by itself, or only used to assist the creature in its movements, the instinct displayed is not the less wonderful, or worthy of observation. The Mediterranean, and warmer parts of the Atlantic, abound in these interesting animals, and one species is also found in the Indian Ocean.

THE PEARLY NAUTILUS,

The inhabitant of this singular shell had long been sought after with eagerness by naturalists, and it is only within these few years that its true nature has been ascertained. We are indebted for this knowledge to the researches of the late Mr. George Bennet, who, while engaged in a voyage among the Polynesian Islands, captured a specimen containing a living animal, which was brought to England, and is now deposited in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

"It was on the twenty-fourth of August, 1829, in the evening, when the ship Sophia was lying at anchor, in Marakini Bay, on the south-west side of the island of Erromanga, one of the New Hebrides group, Southern Pacific Ocean, that something was seen floating on the surface of the water, at some distance from the ship; to many it appeared like a small dead tortoise-shell cat, which would have been such an unusual object in this part of the world, that the boat, which was alongside of the ship at the time, was sent for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the floating object."

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet