POWER OF LOCOMOTION. f 



reach by the waves and currents of the ocean, in which 

 they exist. 



Even here we find an illustration of the saying, 

 " To all things there is a time." For this attachment 

 to the solid body on which they fix their permanent 

 abode, does not take place till they have reached a 

 certain period of their growth. As, immediately after 

 they begin to live, they are free to move in the water, 

 they roam abroad in quest of a habitation ; and hence 

 we discover a power of selection even in creatures of 

 so humble an order, directing them doubtless to cir- 

 cumstances the most favourable to their peculiar con- 

 dition. An analogy appears here to those other crea- 

 tures which are locomotive only in the early stages of 

 their existence, and both classes proclaim to the atten- 

 tive observer 



"The hand that made us is Divine." 



Many bivalve, or double shelled mollusca, are pro- 

 vided with an instrument shaped like a leg and foot, 

 which they employ for progressive motion. It is com- 

 posed of a mass of muscular fibres, interwoven together 

 in a very complex manner, and which may be compared 

 to the muscular structure of the human tongue. In 

 both, the eff'ect is the same — the conferring a power 



