44 CONCHOLOGIST’S COMPANION. 
expand their shells, and lose the water they contain, 
the consequence is inevitable death, unless revived 
by a fresh supply of moisture. Here, then, is another 
striking instance of their sagacity; and this neces- 
sarily includes a certain degree of memory; for 
neither heat nor cold, nor any external injury, will 
ever induce them to expand their shells a second 
time, unless overflowed by the tide. 
They also possess, like many other Bivalves, the 
faculty of squirting water from their shells; and this 
may be readily observed, by placing one of them in a 
flat dish filled with salt water. The animal finding 
himself at liberty, in a situation capable of affording 
a fresh supply of moisture, immediately squirts out 
the portion which he had previously stored up, with 
so much violence, as not only to repel the approach 
of ordinary enemies, but also to give the shell a 
considerable impetus forwards. 
Such are the instincts mercifully assigned to the 
feeblest of created beings, for his preservation and 
defence; but these are not the only proofs of pro- 
tecting care. 
What think you of a little lamp, which lights the 
darkness of his solitary dwelling? An attentive 
observer* recently remarked, on opening an Oyster, 
* M. De Lavoge. 
