The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-05-19
SUBMARINE SILKWORMs.
Monusks Which Weave Wonder
full Threads of Silk.
An Interesting Chapter on tho Habits and
Uses of Strange Submarine Crea-
lures - Queer Methods OF
PrcpnGating Musscls.

pDiiiiCI VI StSt, o,iitl
to Il Washington Star writer ut
makes and wcaves it's silkcn threads
very much rs the spider does. An i'm
portant part of its anatomy is a
slender and very muscular foot of
triangular shape, under and be-
hind which is u gland that secretcs n
viscd and half-liquid fluid. This fluid
runs into n groove in the foot, where it
quickly sets and becomes firm thread.
The thread is pulled out by the with
drawing of the foot, another thread is
formed, and so on until tho mussel has
tied itself securely by ever so many
strong cords.
1T is very interesting to see how the
mussci manages to climb up the perpcn-
dicular sides of rocks or piles by means
of these threads, which are stretched
out and attached by the foot, one after
another, in the direction in which the
animal wishes to climb, each one being
fastened little higher up than the last.
Thus the heavy shell is drawn up grad
ually in much the same manner as that
employed by some spiders when sus-
pending an unusually large victim. You
would hardly imagine that 50 small a
creature could be IL helpful servant to
man, and yet the spinning and weaving
OF this humble mo!lusll have been
turned to a most valuable account. At
the town of Bidc for,i, in Devonshiro. is
long bridge of twcnty-four arches.
crossing the Torridgc river The tides
flow with s;lch swftncss at this bridge
that no mortar will hold the masonry
of the arches. But the corporation of
the town keeps boats for the purpose of
bringing ,nusscls from n distance, which
arc applied to every interstico of tho
stone work. The masonry is entirely
supported ard held together by the
strong threads these bivnlvcs spin, and
the law makes it crime, punishable
by transportation, TO remove any of
them.
Having spent the first few DAYS of
their existence rs frce-swimming ami
mails, after being Matched from the
eggs, nussels usually fasten themselves
together and TO Il common object so as
TO form large clusters. Thus, by means
OF multiplied system of ropes they
secure SO firm an anchorage as to be
able to resist the most violent stormsl
However, they can let go when they
want to, and creep about until they find
better resting place. Their closely
knitted colonies do much to prevent
wear and tear by the waves on certain
portions of the sea coast. Like oysters
they entertain small parasitic crabs,
which make their homes in the shells of
the living molluslls. These little crusta-
cean boarders are of different species
from the oyster crabs. Young seals de-
pend largely for food upon the big arc
tic mussels, which are plentiful as far
north as Point Barrow, in the Arctic
ocean. On the coast of Alaska and as
far south as Puget sound musscls con-
stitute the only molluscan supply, there
being no oysters and very few clans in
that region, and the native women and
children are constantly gathering them.
1.-The Alaskan method of cooking
mussels is to boil them. A bunch of
ten, twenty, or perhaps forty pounds
weight is put into pot and when the
shells cape the water is poured Off, the
people gathering around and picking
out the meat with their fingers. Some
times the bivalvcs are roasted also.
They arc very little priced as an article
of diet on the Atlantic coast, partly be-
cause such wealth of oysters and
CLANS is at hand, but the aboriginal In
dams were very fond of them and con-
sumed them in great quantities, as is
proved by the mounds of shells compos-
ing the debris of ancient feasts, which
remain to this day. The Delawarcs, and
doubtless other tribes. employed mussel
shells, the edges of which were sharp
ened on the gritty rock, for pincers to
pull out their boards with
"Mussels are much used abroad as
food. They are bred in Franco in in
closures of sea water, frames and hang
ing ropes being submerged for them to
attach themselves to. At intervals
these ropes or frames are hauled up and
made to yield their crop. For the same
purpose parks as they are called are
planted in the shadows of the North
sea. Trees, from which all but the
larger branches have been cut, are
stuck into the bottom a such distance
from shore that the upper portions of
them shall bc laid bare at lower water
After four or five years they u-c raised,
stripped and replaced with others. In
the bay OF keil, Germany, one thousand
tons of musscls are raised in IL similar
fashion yearly. Mussels are propagatcd
in the Adr!atic on ropes extended be-
tween poles rammed into the ground
The ropes are stripped once in eight
months. The mussel beds of Great
Britain are worth hundreds of thou
sands of dollars annually
"The mollusls, which has been poetic
ally called the 'sill1worm of the sea-. is
mussel Of the Mediterranean. known
to science as the pima 1t spins kind
of thread so beautiful and fine that in
Sicily the material is woven into gloves
and stockings. These articles are very