294 IXTRODUCTIOX TO CONCHOLOGY. 



purpose of a line or hook, and is capable of being extended 

 or contracted,, in order to entrap sea-insects or small fish. 

 There is still another admirable contrivance, which compen- 

 sates for certain deficiencies in the animal economy. The 

 Mytiliis frequently buries himself in the sand, in order to 

 escape his marine enemies. How, then, is he supplied with 

 air and water, both of which are essential to his welfare ? In 

 common with most of his burrowing kindred, he has breath- 

 ing tubes, which he projects through the sand, and thus 

 a communication is maintained with both those elements 



" wliich equally sustain, 

 Like mighty pillars, tlie frail life of man." 



'^Go to the ant, thou sluggard,^^ said Solomon; "con- 

 sider her ways, and be wise." Let the unbeliever in the 

 superintending providence of his Creator examine the struc- 

 ture of this insignificant creature, and he will be constrained 

 to acknowledge, unless blinded by prejudice, that moral 

 cataract of the human mind, the hand of Deity to be con- 

 spicuous even here. 



The female of the common Mussel generally lays her 

 eggs in small cavities on the outside of her shell, to wliich 

 she attaches them by means of a glutinous substance ; but 

 it is not certain that the numbers which are often seen ad- 



