The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-01-29
ON A CLAM SHELL.
Interesting Readings From
the DarWinian Had.
MANKIND HATES SNAKES.
Because These Reptiles Were the
Scourge and Terror of Our
Anthropoid Ancestors.
Written for THE MORNING CALL.

Martha has just brought in big dishful
OF little round clans and placed them upon
the table in front of me. They are to form
an Introductory to our evening meal, and a
genial, pleasantly expectant glow passes
over each face in the group about the table,
rs / begin fishing the luscious bivalves out,
with the silver tongS, and pile them steam
ing hot upon the different plates.
"Oh!' cries Flaxen. as she receives her
portion. How beautiful the shells are!
Why are they marked SO queerIy? Every
one is different"
This draws the attention of all to the lit
tie futed shells. with their delicate mark
ings Of brown and gray and pale slate.
color.
Il never noticed them before" says "Our
Harriet" as she turns over particularly
beautiful one. II wonder why they are
made so. 1t cannot be merely to crafty
our esthetic taste while we devour them.
A clam in any other she'll would taste as
sweet"
Sexual selection" the ornithologist ex-
plains, careessly. Like the birds, | sup
pose"
NO" says the philosopher "It is natu-
raj selection. Sexual selection plays but
small part in the lOve-making of the clam.
He IS marked and futed and cOlored as he
Is to make him more like the sand in which
be lies. aud thus to conceal him from the
enemies he could otherwise never escape"
What fund of delightful knowledge and
research lies beyond the little gateway thus
carelessly opened. You do not for mo-
ment imagine that the sandclam has inteli-
gently adopted his pretty she'll as his best
means Of pTeseTYatl0n-that Is not the way
natural selection comes abOut-but those
CLANS that were most like the sand in which
thpV lay sCparnG ba vision n fla IN
enemies that sought to feast upon them,
grew, tnriyed and raised large families
like unto themselves, while those OF gaudier
tint, conforming less to the c0lor-t0n of
their surroundings, were speedily seen and
gObbled up before they could peTpetnate
themselves in nOn-con forming descendants.
Purely aud simply, you see, the survival OF
the fittest. just a cantn, as ii were, of what
Grant Allen calls ''the Darwinan Had.
IL some day you lie upon the beach
and make note Of every living thing you
see, you Will discover that all the creatures
that get their living along the sand are of
the same sandy color. in various forms and
t0Ges-those who live by cOnceament in
order better to remain hidden those who
prey upon the others in order the better TO
lie in ambush and outwit their victims.
Grant Adams sums up his Darwinlan Had
in few words. when he SAYS in substance
that those animals alone live that manage
to get living III srite OF the projections
adopted by their food supply-plants or ami
mals-and those plants alone survive whose
peculiaritles are able successfully to defy
the attacks of animals.
CLAIMS are not the only things whose
color saves them from destruetio | was
pOking abou1, as | love to do in a grove of
trees III among the hills one autumn day
in the East when bird suddenly few over
my very shoulder and rs suddenly diSap-
peared again without my being able to tell
in what direction it had gone. | was much
mysti6ed and gazed about me anxious to
discover the whereabouts of the small
woods deniZen who had. apparently, so
abruptly challenged me 10 a game of hide
and-seek. kept perfectly quiet for long
time in the hope that my PLAYMATE would
again show himself. but | was just about
TO abandon the hone and move on when |
thought | saw faint stirring on the trunk
OF q tree directly in line with my eyes and
not six feet away. Looking closely l made
out two shining specks of eyes and n tiny,
mOss-cOlored form, looking exactly like
bit of lichsn-I had found my bird. The
self instant birdie knew he was dis
covered and made swift, upward dart Into
the branches of the tree. My glance
could not travel as swiftly Rs he had done,
and | lost sight of him again. but this time
had general idea OF where be was, and