The animal usually chosen as a type of these, the fresh-water mussel, is rather a dull sort of creature, so we have chosen a prettier and more lively specimen as a representative of the class; namely, one of the Scallops, _Pecten opercularis_, sometimes called the Quin, the shell of which is shown in the frontispiece of the book. This is one of the most beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful, of the English shells. The generic name, _Pecten_, the Comb-shell, probably refers, not to the shape of the gills, which is somewhat peculiar, but to the marking of the shell, which presents raised ridges, side by side. Anyone familiar with shells will see at once that this is an unusual pattern. There are plenty of bivalve shells with concentric ridge markings, comparatively few with radiating ridges. We shall see presently that there is a good reason for this. The specific name "opercularis," lid-like, refers to the neat round shape of the shell. Each half of the shell has a pair of "ears," so-called. The person who first gave this name to these flaps of shell, three of which are three-cornered and the fourth nondescript, must have been familiar in his youth with books afflicted with the "dog's-ear" disfigurement; for certainly there is no other kind of ear which greatly resembles these. The notch beneath the irregularly shaped ear is called the "byssal notch": many Pectens spin a byssus or thread, like that spun by the common Sea-Mussel, and thus anchor themselves to fixed objects for a time; this notch is the place where threads of this kind leave the shell.
The two valves of the shell differ in depth, one being flatter than the other; and the "ears" of the two valves differ in shape. The inside of the shell shows muscular impressions, but these cannot be seen in a photograph. The picture, however, shows the strong hinge-ligament which joins the halves of the shell, and the difference in depth and shape of the two valves. The valve on which the animal usually lies is the lighter in colour of the two, and has one ear much longer than the other.
The creature swims by means of the "mantle," or muscular margin of the body. It contracts this suddenly, after first opening the shell and taking in as much water as possible. Thus the water is squeezed out again, and the effect of this is to propel the animal in an opposite direction.