The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1892-09-10
THE slLkWoRMs OF THE OCEAN
AIollnsks Which Weave Threads That Ar
Most Wonderful to Mankind.


spinner of the sea- said concholo
gist to Washington Star writer. "I
makes and weayes Its silken thread,
very much as the spider does. Al
important part of its anatomy is /
slender and very muscular foot of tri-
angular shape, under and behind
which is gland that sccretes yiscid
and half-liquid fluid. This fluid runs
into groove in the foot, where it
quickly sets and becomes firm
thread. The thread is pulled out by
the Withdrawing of the foot, another
thread is formed, and SO on until the
mussel has tied itself securely by ever
SO many strong cords.
"It is very interesting to see how
the mussel manages to climb up the
perpendicular sides of rocks or pile
by means of these threads which are
stretched out and attached by the
foot, one after another, in the direc-
tion in which the animal wishes to
climb, each one being fastened a little
higher up than the last. Thus the
heavy shell is drawn up gradually in
much the same manner as that em-
ployed by some spiders when suspend
ing an unusually large victim. You
would hardly imagine that so small a
creature could be a helpful servant to
man, and yet the spinning and weav-
ing of this humble mollusk have been
turned to most valuable account. AT
the town OF Bideford, In Devonshire. ia
long bridge OF twenty-four arches,
crossing the Torridge river. The tides
Nui ~.
that no mortar will hold the masonry
OF the arches. But the corporation OF
the town keeps boats for the purpose
OF bringing musscls from a distance,
which are applied to every interstice
of the stone work. Tho masonry is
entirely supported and held together
by the strong threads these bivalves
spin, and the law makes it crime,
punishable by transportation, to re-
move any of them.
Having spent the first few days OF
their existence as free-swimming nni-
mails, after being Matched from the
eggs, mussels usually fastcn them
selves together and to common OBJ.
ject, so as to form large clusters.
Thus, by means of multiplied system
OF ropes, they secure SO firm an anchor
age as to be able to resist the most
violent storms. However, they can
let go when they want to- and CREEP
about until they find better resting
place. Their closely colonies
do much to prevent wear and tear by
the waves on certain portions of tho
sea coast. Like oysters, thev enter.
tain small parasitic crabs, which make
their homes in the shells of the living
mollusks. These little crustaceal
boardcrs are of different species
from the oyster crabs. Young seals
depend largely for food upon the big
urctic mussels, which are plentiful as
far north rs Point Barrow, in the Arc.
tic ocean. On the coast of Alaska and
as far south as Puget sound musscls
constitute the only molluscan supply
| there being no oysters and very few
CLANS in that region, and the native
women and children are constant,
gathering them.
"Thc Alaskan method of cooking
mussels is to boil them. A bunch Of
ten. twenty or perhaps forty pound:
weight is put into a pot and when the
shells gapc the water is poured Off, the
| people gathering around and picking
out the meat with their fingers. Some
times the biralvcs are roasted also
They are very little priced as All arti
Gle OF diet on the Atlantic coast, partly
because snch a wealth of oysters ant
clans is at hand, but the aborigina
Indians were very fond of them ant
consumed them in great quantities, al
is proved by the mounds of shells com
posing the debris of ancient feasts
! which remain to this day. The Della
wares, and doubtless other tribes, en-
!, ployed mussel shells, the edges O.
which were sharpened on the gritt,
rock, for pincers to pull out theiJ
boards with.
"Mussels are much used abroad al
food. They are bred in frnhca Ii In
closures Of sea water, frames and hang
ng ropes being submerged for then
to attach themselves to. AT interval.
these ropes or frames are hauled II,
and made to yield their crop. For the
same purpose parks, as they are
called, are planted in the shadows O
the North Sea. Trees, from which al
but the larger branches have been cut
are stuck into the bottom Mt such {
distance from shore that the upper
portions of them shall be laid bare a
low water. After four or five yenr!
they are raised, stripped, and replacoc
with others. In the Bay of Keil, Ger
many, 1000 tons of mussels are RAISED
in similar fashion yearly. Mussel!
are propaeatcd in the Adriatc OF
| rODeS extended betWaon po1ns rommaf