62 PHOLADIDiE. 



cene and pliocene epochs, on the one hand, and the pre- 

 sent, on the other, not returning until after the close of the 

 glacial period. 



The modern history of the Teredo dates chiefly from the 

 coinmencement of the eighteenth century. In 1 71 5 we find 

 it alluded to by the celebrated Valisnieri, and, in 1720, mis- 

 takes were made about it by Deslandes. It attained its 

 majority, and came out with great eclat^ however, in 1783, 

 when no fewer than three elaborate treatises on the Teredo 

 were published, by as many authors. In that year Hol- 

 land was seriously threatened by the boring of our little 

 shell-fish, and Dutchmen by that of its biograjihers. Strange 

 to say, its history, " civil and natural," was worked out 

 not by zoologists, but by political writers ; and with much 

 credit did they execute their task. The investigators were 

 Pierre Massuet, Jean Rousset, and Godfrey Sellius. They 

 worked independently of each other. All three were re- 

 markable men, worthy of a passing notice. Massuet was 

 a Belgian, and had been a Benedictine monk, but became a 

 Protestant, and took refuge in Holland, where he studied 

 medicine under Boerhaave. He was fortunate; for, divid- 

 ing his time between his patients and his researches, he 

 saved enough to buy a seigneurie and to die rich. He 

 wrote on history and natural philosophy. Rousset began 

 life as a soldier, and quitted the sword for the birch. Rul- 

 ing school- boys, however, did not satisfy his ambition ; he 

 turned politician, and lectured kings and states. He was 

 successful for a time, but, like most politicians, got at length 

 into trouble, and was obliged to conceal himself, which he 

 did effectually, for nobody knows where he died. He wrote 

 many works, geographical, historical, and political, and 

 edited a translation of " Paradise Lost." He would not 

 have meddled with the Teredo, but that it took part itself in 



