10 MULTIVALVES PHOLAS. 



In some species the reticulations are so delicate in their 

 fabric, as to resemble the finest lace ; in others the tex- 

 ture is coarser, and approaches nearer to small basket- 

 work ; and in the Pholas Costata, the shell is covered 

 with regular, elevated, jagged, or scolloped ribs so ele- 

 gantly disposed as to render it no less desirable for its 

 beauty than its scarcity. 



Tlie Pholades are found in company, but not in groups 

 or clusters, as in the Lepades, — for each individual Pho- 

 las is detached from its neighbour, and occupies a sepa- 

 rate and distinct habitation, which it forms for itself, by 

 expressing a corroding juice, in any substance which 

 accident or intent had made most eligible. 



Stone, clay, wood, sponge, coral, equally serve as 

 habitations for the Pholades; even the stoutest oak planks 

 of ships' sides are pierced by them with the greatest faci- 

 lity : and as they advance in growth, they enlarge their ha- 

 bitation within, leaving the small aperture, by which they 

 Originally entered, of its primitive dimensions, thereby 

 precluding all possibility of a retreat. 



The animal possesses the property of emitting a phos- 

 phorescent liquor, which shines with brilliancy in the 

 dark, and illuminates whatever it touches. 



The American, Indian, and European seas supply the 

 few species that are known. 



Late discoveries have proved the existence of fossil 

 Pholades, called Pholadites. 



