PROVISION FOR MOLLUSCA. 



11 



To every creature, indeed, the beneficent Creator 

 has given some advantasre. The free shells, as they 

 are called, are directed by their inhabitants hither 

 and thither in pursuit of food ; but are tenants of 

 fixed shells left without provision ? No ; on the con- 

 trary, food comes to them ; the continued motion of 

 the waves, or the flowing of the tide, brings them a 

 fresh supply of the little animals on which they sub- 

 sist. Truly, " the eyes of all wait on thee, O Lord, 

 what thou givest they gather ; and thou satisfiest the 

 desire of every living thing." 



Molluscous animals are a part of the provision made 

 for various other creatures. Not only do the different 

 species of walrus, inhabitants of the ocean, feed partly 

 on them ; but ourang-outangs and preacher monkeys 

 often descend to the sea to devour what they can find 

 strewed on the shores. The former, it is said, consume 

 in particular a large species of oyster : and, fearful 

 of inserting their paws between the open valves, lest 

 the oyster should close and crush them, they first place 

 a tolerably large stone within the shell, and then drag 

 out their victim with safety. The latter are no less 

 ingenious. Dampier saw several of them take up oysters 

 from the beach, lay them on one stone, and beat them with 

 another till thev demolished the shells. Even the fox, 



