92 



THE PHOLAS. 



found, proceed to search for them, either as food for 

 the very poor, or as baits for the catching of certain 

 fish. It is when the sea is considerably withdrawn, 

 especially after high tides, that they are able to obtain 

 them with most facility, and in greatest abundance. They 

 mark the place where any are to be found, by a trans- 

 verse aperture, widened at each extremity in the form 

 of a key- hole, above the hole which they inhabit. To 

 draw them out, which is often very difficult, the animal 

 being sometimes sunk very deeply, they throw in some 

 pinches of salt. This so irritates the solen, that it im- 

 mediately ascends out of the hole to get rid of it. It 

 is then seized, but some address and dexterity are ne- 

 cessary, lest the animal should re-enter as rapidly as 

 it came forth. Should it do so, the fisherman has re- 

 course to a long iron crook, which he sinks pretty 

 deeply, and drawing it out obliquely, carries away the 

 sand and the solen also. 



In the pholas, the two valves of the shell are convex 

 — broad anteriorly, and become narrower and elon- 

 gated posteriorly ; a large oblique fissure being left at 

 each extremity. Through the fissure at the larger end 

 the foot is protruded, the double tube through the other. 

 The boring habits of the pholas, so common on our 

 coast, are well known ; but the process by which rocks 



