M U LT I V A L V E SHE L L- V I S H. 34/ 



resembling an apple that has been scooped, which is 

 filled with a soft muscular substance through which 

 the intestines wind round ; but what is the most extra- 

 ordinary part of the animal, is its horns, or spines, 

 that serve both for arms and feet ; the latter of which 

 are hard and prickly, but the former perfectly soft. 



It is an observation that has frequently been made 

 upon insects, that those which have thefewest legs move 

 with the greatest speed : bitt the sea-urchin contradicts 

 this' assertion, as it has twelve hundred horns and 

 two thousand spines, yet is able to run at the bot- 

 tom of the sea with a degree of swiftness, if it can- 

 not positively be termed speed. The flesh of this 

 fish is thought to resemble that of a lobster; but 

 the eggs (which are red) are allowed to be superior 

 in taste. 



The acorn shell-fish, the thumb-footed shell-fish, 

 and the imaginary barnacle, upon a slight inspection, 

 appear like funguses that grow in the deep ; but mi- 

 nute observation will soon convince us, that they are 

 endowed with appetites as well as life, and may be 

 seen opening a cover, and thrusting out twelve long 

 arms for the purpose of procuring something to eat: 

 these are covered with hair, and capable of adhering 

 to rocks, bottoms of ships, roots of trees, whales, lob- 

 sters, and even crabs, and there they remain clus- 

 tered together in numbers, like bunches of grapes 

 yjpon the stalk. 



Of all the animals of the shelly tribe none have ex- 

 cited the attention of the curious equal to that we are 

 about to describe. The pholas, when divested of its 

 external covering, bears some resemblance to a pud- 

 ding in its form, and does not appear to be endowed 

 with any instrument that could' render it capable of 



