Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
A SCORPION-SHELL.
Closely allied to the "Pelican's Foot," found on the British coast.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
ROCK-OYSTERS.
This is the ordinary commercial oyster of the Australian shores.
The tropical Australian seas, and notably those which wash the Great Barrier Reef, are famous for the production of the largest of living bivalve molluscs. These are represented by the Giant Clams, which, dwelling among the coral-growths, are left exposed to view for brief periods during abnormally low spring tides. A photograph of a colony of these monster bivalves, taken by the writer amidst this mollusc's characteristic surroundings, is reproduced on page [741]. The example in the foreground measured no less than 4 feet in diameter and weighed several hundred-weights. In many clams the living tissues, or mantle-borders, that are exposed to view when the shell-valves are partly open, are brilliantly tinted.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.