New Britain herald., 1920-12-06


 die rather than surrender.
 Their power of locomotion is not linn ited to moving up and down ia their
 holes. They can dart through tho
 water from place to place and in any
 direction, by a sudden opening and
 closing of the valves. Other bivalve3
 also movefn the water in this manner,
 the common scallop being especially
 agile in such movements. But the
 Razors have the advantage of tho scaIlop in that they can also leap from place to place when out of the water, as first learned by pc "sonal observa- ton.
 In making a tour throughout the length of Cape Cod, in company with my daughter c. Antolnette Shephard, we arrived at Willfieet, Mass, on the afternoon of Aug. 30. 1882. We had been on the beach there but short time when we beheld a sight such as we had never before witnessed. The tide was we'll out and on the bare sand, several rods from the water, we noticed in the distance numerous small objects leaping up into the air from place to place and ip various direc- 1 tions. We knew of nothing which would be likely to be moving about in that manner. Making our way | hastily towards them we found that 1 | sight consequently we then proceeded l more cautiously. Much to our surprise l these strange objects proved to be colony of Razors roaming over the l beach, apparently having frolic. By l a. strong and quick stroke of their | foot they threw themselves up into the | air and from place to place. Thep
 ascended something like two feet or
 more above ,the sand and 1eaped not | less than three feet at one jump. 1 Almost immediately after having
 landed on the beach, they leaped | again sometimes in one direction and
 sometimes in another. and so on re- 1 peatedly. When their successive leaps l were in the same general direction, as
 they most frequently were, they l travelled over the beach about as fasi l as a person would ordinarily walk
 We attempted to catch those which
 were about to fall flat on the sand l They curved their foot downdardlya | planting the cvd firmly in the sand.
 and then by a straigntening out of the | foot thcy-would rise from a prostrate
 to an upright position, preparatory to,
 boring a new burrow and sinking
 | down into the sand with marvellous
 rapidity. They were co quick in these
 movements that although we were
 l with them for about two hours we were not able to catch hold of even
 J one before it had commenced boring
 into the sand. We succeeded in captur-'
 I ing a few, only very few, without ln-
 l turing the shell. These few we grasped' \ ! when the end of tho shell had pene- 1 trated the sand something less than an inch In case the shell had penetrated
 | the sand a full inch, or more at this
 | time we grasped them it was impos- l sible to pull one out without crush fng the shell. In our several attempts
 to do so we not only crushed the shell
 | but also tore the animal asunder~
 | securing only a part of it while ths
 remainder was left in the sand.
 I cannot state how many live
 Razors we saw on that day. but there 2 seemed to be no end of them. We e could conceive of no reason why SC e ! many Razors wern then out of theft e holes, other than that they came out oi e their own free will as I am confident V | they did On the other hand there arc I ! at least two scientific publications . | which state that "TheN Solen never g | voluntarily leave their burrow." One r l English work is more conservative. , and probably correct in its statement , 1 that s.The Solen rarely leave their bur. n | row voluntarily
 V There are several specimens of , l Razor shells in the museum of the g New Britain Institute. The one marked } | ..Solen ensis, Willfieet, Mass" is the 1 shell of one of the live Razors that we I saw leaping dver the sandy beach r 1 thirty-eight years ago. On no other oc- ] casion have I ever had the pleasure ! of seeing live Razor. .as Failing to find in any publication a
 | description of such Razor activities as . l we had observed. I wrote to the {! Smithsonian Institute of Washing
 ton, D. C., giving them an account Of our observations and asking if they l could refer me to any publication in 1 which there is any mention of Razors Icaping from plac' to place when out l of the water. Their reply is dated | October IS. 1920. IL states that my l letter had been referred to Dr. Will liam H. Dall. who reports that The
 facts recorded by the writer in regard | to Solen leaping from its burrow are
 known, but little or no attention has
 been given to them in print