But if you go down to the pools at the very edge of the water when the tide is quite low, and scrape away the sand which is heaped up against the bottom of the rocks, you may very likely come upon quite a large cluster of these curious creatures.
Horse mussels are not used for food as common mussels are, because they have a very strong and unpleasant taste.
PLATE XV
THE VARIABLE SCALLOP (1)
A good many different kinds of scallops are found on our shores. One of them—the Common Scallop—is as large as the palm of a man’s hand, and is used for food. You may often see it in fishmongers’ shops. But you are not at all likely to find its empty shells lying on the shore, for it lives in rather deep water. You may find those of the Variable Scallop, however, very often indeed in places where the shore is sandy. It is called the “variable” scallop because it varies so much in colour that one hardly ever sees two of its shells which are quite alike. Sometimes they are crimson, sometimes pink, sometimes mauve, sometimes dark yellow, sometimes golden yellow, and sometimes blotched and mottled with different colours. A number of ridges run down the shell from the hinge to the margin, and on each of these is a row of short spikes; so that the animal looks something like a tipsy-cake!
Scallops swim in a rather curious way, namely, by opening and shutting their valves over and over again. As often as they do this a jet of water is squirted out, and this acts on the surrounding water just like the jets which are squirted from the siphon tubes of the cuttle, and drives the animal along with some little speed. As it travels through the water it looks very pretty, for all round the edges of its shell it has a fringe of long feelers, which wave up and down in a most graceful way. By means of these it obtains its food. At the base of these feelers is a row of little black dots, which seem to be eyes.
PLATE XV
THE RADIATED SCALLOP (2)
This is rather a rare shell, and if you find it lying upon the shore you will be fortunate. You may know it at once if you do find it, for it only has six or seven ridges running down it, instead of about twice that number. It varies a good deal in colour, but is generally reddish brown, spotted and speckled with white.
