BIVALVES. 59 
efflux of the tide, and mount with it to a considerable 
height; they then let go their hold—the shell is 
broken by the violence of the fall, and the inhabitant 
easily extracted. 
Monkeys also devour Muscles, as well as other 
shell-fish, in considerable numbers. They watch 
the ebbing of the sea, and whenever an unfortunate 
Muscle opens his shell for the purpose of imbibing 
or rejecting water, a stone is immediately slipped in, 
which prevents the valves from closing, and renders 
him an easy prey to his sagacious adversary. Birds, 
also, occasionally avail themselves of this propensity 
in the Muscle to open his shell, but not always with 
equal success. A crow seeing one day an Oyster with 
his valves expanded on the beach, incautiously darted 
her claw into the open shell, with the intention of 
dragging forth the inmate; but the Oyster, aware of 
her design, instantly closed her doors, and in so 
doing, took the thief prisoner. A gentleman found 
them in this situation, and made a double capture. 
Muscles are common to the Indian, Atlantic, Ame- 
rican, and Northern oceans; they are also met with 
in New Zealand; in the Red, Mediterranean, and 
Russian seas; and a few occasionally diversify the 
inhospitable shores of Hudson’s Bay. 
Large beds of a minute species have also been 
discovered on the eminences of the Jouratzkaine 
