96 THE NAUTILUS. 



us disappeared from sight. Consequently we proceeded more 

 cautiously. Much to our surprise and delight these strange ob- 

 jects proved to be a colony of Razors (Solen ensis) roaming over 

 the beach apparently having a frolic. By a strong and quick 

 stroke of their foot the} 7 threw themselves up into the air and 

 from place to place. They ascended something like two feet or 

 more above the sand and leaped not less than three feet at one 

 jump. Almost immediately after having landed on the beach 

 at the end of one leap they leaped again, sometimes in one 

 direction and sometimes in another. When their successive 

 leaps were in the same general direction, as they most frequently 

 were, they traveled over the beach about as fast as a person 

 would ordinarily walk. We attempted to catch those which 

 were the nearest to us, running for them as they were about to 

 fall flat on the sand. They carved their foot downwardly, 

 planting the end firmly in the sand and then by a straightening 

 out of the foot rose from a prostrate to an upright position pre- 

 paratory to boring a new burrow and sinking down into the 

 sand with wonderful rapidity. They were so quick in their 

 movements, that although we were with them for about two 

 hours we were not able to catch hold of one before it had com- 

 menced boring into the sand. We succeeded in capturing a 

 few, only a very few, without injuring the shell. These few we 

 grasped when the end of the shell had penetrated the sand 

 something less than one inch. In case the shell had penetrated 

 the sand a full inch or more at the time we grasped them, it 

 was impossible to pull one out without crushing 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 

 the rest remained in the sand. 



I cannot state how many live Razors we saw that day, but 

 there seemed to be no end of them. We could conceive of no 

 reason as to why so many Razors were then out of their holes, 

 other than that they came out of their own free will as I am 

 confident that they did. But I find at least two scientific pub- 

 lications in which it is stated that "They never voluntarily 

 leave their burrows." One English work is more conservative 

 and probably correct in its statement that "the Solens rarely 

 leave their burrows voluntarily." 



