694 



A HISTORY OF 



mal is hunting its prey at the bottom of the i 

 water ; for a few minutes after it is taken, all 

 the horns are withdrawn into the body, and 

 most of the spines drop off. 



It is generally said of the insects, that those 

 which have the greatest number of legs, 

 always move the slowest : but this animal 

 seems to be an exception to the rule ; for 

 though furnished with two thousand spines, 

 and twelve hundred horns, all serving for leg?, 

 and from their number seeming to impede 

 each other's motion, yet it runs with some 

 share of swiftness at the bottom, and it is 

 sometimes no easy matter to overtake it. It 

 is often taken upon the ebb, by following it in 

 shallow water, either in an osier basket, or 

 simply with the hand. Both the spines and 

 the horns assist its motion ; and the anima! 

 is usually seen running with the mouth down- 

 ward. 



Some kinds of this animal are as good eat- 

 ing as the lobster ; and its eggs, which are of 

 a deep red, are considered as a very great 

 delicacy. But of others the taste is but indif- 

 ferent ; and in ail places, except the Mediter- 

 ranean, they are little sought for, except as 

 objects of curiosity. 



Very different in motion, though not much 

 different in shape from these, are the Acorn 

 Shell-Fish, the Thumb-footed Shell-Fish, and 

 the Imaginary Barnacle. These are fixed to 

 one spot, and appear to vegetate from a stalk. 

 Indeed, to an inattentivespectator, each actually 

 seems to be a kind of fungus that grows in the 

 deep, destitute of animal life as well as motion. 

 But the inquirer will soon change his opinion, 

 when he comes to observe this mushroorn- 

 Jike figure more minutely. He will then see 

 that the animal residing within the shell has 

 not only life, but some degree of voracious- 

 ness ; that it has a cover, by which it opens 

 and shuts its shell at pleasure ; that it has 

 twelve long crooked arms, furnished with hair, 

 which it thrusts forth for its prey ; and eight 

 smaller, which are generally kept in the shell. 

 These are seen adhering to every substance 

 that 7= to be met with in the ocean ; rocks, 

 ro-'ts of trees, ships' bottoms, whales, lob- 

 sters, and even crabs, like bunches of 

 grapes, clung to each other. It is amusing 



a Anderson's History pf Greenland. 



enough to behold their operations/ They 

 for some time remain motionless within their 

 shell; but when the sea is calm, they art seen 

 opening the lid, and peeping about them. 

 They then thrust out their long neck, look 

 round them for some time, and then abruptly 

 retreat back into their box, shut their lid, and 

 lurk in darkness and security, Some people 

 eat them ; but they are in no great repute at 

 the tables of the luxurious, v\ here their de- 

 formed figure would be no objection to their 

 being introduced. 



Of all animals of the shelly trihr, the Pho- 

 lades are the most wonderful. From their 

 great powers of penetration, compared with 

 their apparent imbecility, they justly excite 

 the astonishment of the curious observer. 

 These animals are found to different places; 

 sometimes clothed in their proper shell, at the 

 bottom of the water ; sometimes concealed in 

 lumps of marly earth; and sometimes lodged, 

 shell and all, in the body of the hardest it ar- 

 ble. In their proper shell they assume dif- 

 ferent figures ; but, in general, they somewhat 

 resemble a muscle, except that their shell is 

 found actually composed of five or more 

 pieces, the smaller valves serving to close up 

 the opening left by the irregular meeting 

 of two principal shells. But their pene- 

 tration into rocks and their residence there, 1 

 makes up the most wonderful part of their rnV 

 tory. 



This animal, when divested of its shell, 

 resembles a roundish soft pudding, with i o 

 instrument that seems in ihe least fitted for 

 boring into stones, or even penetrating the 

 softest substances. It is furnished with two 

 teeth indeed ; but these are placed in such a 

 situation as to be incapable of touching the 

 hollow surface of its stony dwelling : it has 

 also two covers to its shell, that open and shut 

 at either end ; but these are totally unservice- 

 able to it as a miner. The instrument \\ith 

 which it performs all its operations, and buries 

 itself in the hardest rocks, is only a broad 

 fleshy substance, somewhat resembling a 

 tongue, that is seen issuing from the bottom 

 of its shell. With this soft, yielding instru- 

 ment, it perforates the most solid marbles; 

 and havina, while yet little and young, made 

 its way, by a very narrow entrance, into 

 the substance of the stone, it then begins to 



