_Pearls_ are deposited by bivalves around some irritating particle
that gets between the shell and the mantle. The pearl oyster furnishes
most of the pearls; sometimes pearls of great value are obtained from
fresh-water mussels in the United States. Name articles that are made
partly or wholly of mother-of-pearl.
[Illustration: FIG. 202.--A SNAIL.
_l_, mouth; _vf_, _hf_, feelers; _e_, opening of egg duct; _fu_, foot;
_ma_, mantle; _lu_, opening to lung; _a_, vent.]
=Study of a Live Snail or Slug.=--Is its body dry or moist? Do
land snails and slugs have lungs or gills? Why? How many pairs of
tentacles has it? What is their relative length and position? The
eyes are dark spots at bases of tentacles of snail and at the tips
of the rear tentacles of slug. Touch the tentacles. What happens? Do
the tentacles simply stretch, or do they turn inside out as they are
extended? Is the respiratory opening on the right or left side of the
body? On the mantle fold or on the body? (Figs. 202-3-4.) How often
does the aperture open and close?
[Illustration: FIG. 203.--A SLUG.]
[Illustration: FIG. 204.--CIRCULATION AND RESPIRATION IN SNAIL.
_a_, mouth; _b_, _b_, foot; _c_, vent; _d_, _d_, lung; _h_, heart.
Blood vessels are black. (Perrier.)]
Place the snail in a moist tumbler. Does the whole under surface seem
to be used in creeping? Does the creeping surface change shape as the
snail creeps? Do any folds or wrinkles seem to move either toward
the front or rear of its body? Is enough mucus left to mark the path
traveled? The fold moves to the front, adheres, and smooths out as
the slug or snail is pulled forward.
=Cephalopods.=--The highest and best developed mollusks are the
=cephalopods=, or “head-footed” mollusks. Surrounding the mouth
are eight or ten appendages which serve both as feet and as arms.
These appendages have two rows of sucking disks by which the animal
attaches itself to the sea bottom, or seizes fish or other prey with
a firm grip. The commonest examples are the _squid_, with a long body
and ten arms, and the _octopus_, or devilfish, with a short body and
eight arms. Cephalopods have strong biting mouth parts and complex
eyes somewhat resembling the eyes of backboned, or vertebrate,
animals. The large and staring eyes add to the uncanny, terrifying
appearance.
[Illustration: FIG. 205.--A SQUID.]
The sepia or “ink” discharged through the siphon of the squid makes
a dark cloud in the water and favors its escape from enemies almost
as much as its swiftness (Fig. 205). The squid sometimes approaches
a fish with motion so slow as to be imperceptible, and then suddenly
seizes it, and quickly kills it by biting it on the back behind the
head.
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