PATELLHLE. LIMPET. 173 



11,880,000 limpets for that purpose.* At low tide 

 limpets may be collected in numbers from the rocks 

 and boulders. Some are seen safely ensconced in holes 

 or depressions made by means of the muscular action of 

 their foot or disk, which is the width of the shell ; 

 others are seen creeping about in search of fresh rest- 

 ing places, or food, with their tentacles slightly pro- 

 truding beyond the shell, till alarmed by some touch, or 

 otherwise; and they adhere with wonderful strength 

 to the rocks. Wordsworth says : 



" And should the strongest arm endeavour 

 The limpet from its rock to sever, 

 'Tis seen its loved support to clasp, 

 With such tenacity of grasp, 

 We wonder that such strength should dwell 

 In such a small and simple shell." 



Dr. A. Hartwig, remarks in his ' Harmonies of Nature ; 

 or, the Unity of Creation/ that the broad-soled foot of 

 the limpet acts as a powerful sucker, and that it has 

 been calculated that the larger species are thus able to 

 produce a resistence equivalent to the weight of 150 Ibs., 

 which, considering the sharp angle of the shell, is more 

 than sufficient to defy the strength of a man to raise them. 



On the Devonshire coast I have found very large 

 specimens of Patella vulgata, and worn quite smooth, 

 some of the shells measuring as much as eight inches 

 in circumference. 



Limpets, a foot in diameter, are found on the western 

 coast of South America, and are used by the natives as 

 basins.f 



In many places limpets are used for food, especially 

 on the Continent, where they are of tener eaten than the 



* Forbes and Hanley, . Brit. Mollusca,' vol. ii. p. 425. 



f Cuming, as quoted by Woodward, in ' Recent and Fossil Shells.' 



