Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/278

Rh into a dish dry, as knowing that an occasional exposure to the air is a contingency that they are not unused to. By and by, as we were quietly reading, our attention was attracted to the table where the dish was placed, by a rattling uproar, as if flint stones were rolling one over the other about the dish. "Oh! Look at the Cockles!" was the exclamation; and they were indeed displaying their agility, and their beauty too, in fine style. The valves of the largest were gaping to the extent of three quarters of an inch; but the intermediate space was filled up by the spongy-looking, fleshy mantle, of a semi-pellucid orange hue. At one end protruded the siphons, two thick, short tubes, soldered as it were into one, and enveloped on all sides in a shaggy fringe of cirri or tentacles. The circular orifices of these tubes,—small holes perfectly round, with a white border,—had a curious appearance as we looked at the heart-shaped end of the valves. The discharging orifice, however, was but rarely visible; being usually closed, while the other remained constantly open. But these things were what we afterwards saw: for some time we could look at nothing but the magnificent foot, and the curious manner in which it was used.

The two lips of the mantle suddenly separate, and, gaping widely all along the front, recede nearly to the valves; while, at the same moment, a huge organ is thrust out somewhat like a tongue, nearly cylindrical, but a little flattened, and tapering to a point. Its surface is smooth and brilliantly glossy; and its colour a fine rich scarlet, approaching to orange; but a better idea of it than can be conveyed by any description