LIMPETS. 157 
“the finger be applied to the foot of the animal, or 
to the spot on which it rested, the finger will be 
held there by a very sensible resistance, although 
no glue is perceptible. And it is remarkable, that 
if the spot be now moistened with a little water, or 
if the base of the animal be cut, and the water 
contained in it allowed to flow over the spot, no 
further adhesion will occur on the application of 
the finger,—the glue has been dissolved. It is 
nature’s solvent, by which the animal loosens its 
own connexion to the rock. When the storm 
rages, or when an enemy is abroad, it glues itself 
firmly to its rest ; but when the danger has passed, 
to free itself from this forced constraint, a little 
water is pressed from the foot, the cement is 
weakened, and it is at liberty to raise itself and be 
at large. The fluid of cementation, as well as 
the watery solvent, are secreted in an infinity of 
miliary glands, with which the foot is, as it were, 
shagreened ; and as the limpet cannot supply the 
secretion as fast as this can be exhausted, you may 
destroy the animal’s capacity of fixation, by de- 
taching it forcibly two or three times in suc- 
cession.” * 
This common limpet, though hard, coarse, and 
unsavoury, is largely eaten by the poorer classes on 
our rocky shores. It is easily procured in almost 
any quantity, between tides, and therefore is a 
good deal resorted to by those who have little or 
nothing better. The wretched inhabitants of the 
isles of Scotland, and of the Atlantic shores of 
Ireland, in particular, have often been preserved 
from actual famine by this miserable food. The 
quantity eaten as a regular part of diet is immense. 
* Introd. to Conch. p. 147. 
