Curiosities of natural history. 2nd series / by Frances T. Buckland.

  • Francis Trevelyan Buckland
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Curiosities of natural history. 2nd series / by Frances T. Buckland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SILK OP MUSSEL.—Page 196. When in captivity in an aquarium, the mussel can be seen like a spider, spinning his Byssus, or anchor rope ; for Mr. Holds- worth * writes : “ If a mussel be placed close to the glass front of the tank, a large finger-like organ—the foot—will soon be observed protruded from the gaping shell and applied to the surface of the glass; a small slit near tbe tip of his foot is then opened, and the end of the thread attached, and on the foot being withdrawn the Byssus will be seen leading from it to the glass; at first this is apparently soft, and hardens by contact with the water/5 This marvellous fact of a soft material becoming hardened by water is only equalled by the wonderful provision which we find in the roe of the salmon. This fish deposits its eggs in very rapid streams, and, strange to say, the moment it is extruded from the parent fish, it be- comes adhesive, and, sticking to the stones, is not washed away by the rapid streams. THE SHIP IMPEDED BY SHELLS.—Page 196. The following will show what mischief shells may do, even in stopping the progress of a ship :— A vessel came into Weymouth in November, 1825, so covered with Lepas, or goose-Barnacle shells, as to impede her sailing two miles an hour; she was from St. John’s, New Brunswick, where she lay three weeks. She touched at St. Michael’s on her way home, and remained there ten days ; and there the captain said they attached themselves to the vessel, as the * harbour swarmed with them, and he found her sailing impeded immediately on quitting St. Michael’s. The vessel was the Susan, of London, laden with deals, not coppered; she discharged her cargo at Weymouth, and was for sale there. The Lepas were at the sides so thick that you could see them clearly. * Handbook to the Fish House in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London. Bradbury and Evans, 11, Bouverie Street. Price 6d, A A