PHOLADID^. PIDDOCK. 5 



that part of the shore where these mollusks bury 

 themselves, is left exposed by the tide, they are all 

 killed. He was in the habit of collecting the Pholas 

 dactylus as bait for white fish, digging them out of the 

 clay or shale ; and he added that if he kept them a 

 day or so before using them, they changed colour, and 

 shone like glowworms, even shone quite brightly in 

 the water, some distance below the surface, when put 

 on the hooks for bait. This reminds me of the follow- 

 ing quaint lines in Breton's f Ourania/ quoted in 

 Daniel's ' Rural Sports :' — 



"The glowworme shining in a frosty night 

 Is an admirable thing in Shepheard's sight. 

 Twentie of these wormes put in a small glasse, 

 Stopped so close that no issue doe passe, 

 Hang'd in a Bow-net and suncke to the ground 

 Of a poole or lake, broad and profound, 

 Will take such plentie of excellent fish 

 As well may furnish an Emperor's dish." 



The luminosity of the Pholas after death is referred 

 to by Pliny, who says, " The onyches shine in the dark 

 like fire, and in the mouth even while they are eaten;"* 

 and, " that it is the property of the dacijtlus (a fish so 

 called from its strong resemblance to the human uail) 

 to shine brightly in the dark, when all other lights are 

 removed, and the more moisture it has the brighter is 

 the light emitted. In the mouth, even while they are 

 eaten, they give forth their light, and the same, too, 

 when in the hands; the very drops, in fact, that fall 

 from them on the ground, or on the clothes, are of the 

 same luminous nature." f 



* Pliny, ' Nat. Hist.' vol. ii. bk. ix. c. 51. Throughout this volume 

 I have used the translations of Pliny and Athenams in Bonn's Series of 

 Classical Authors, 



t Idem. vol. ii. bk. ix. c. 87. 



