

136 BOOK OP NATURE LAID OPEN. 



edge of the water, and letting it wash several times 

 over their bodies. At the expiration of some days, 

 spent on the land, after this washing, they again seek 

 the shore; and shaking off the spawn into the wa- 

 ter, leave it there- The sea, to a great distance, is 

 black with the eggs, and shoals of hungry fish at- 

 tend, and devour a considerable quantity of them ; 

 those that escape are hatched under the sand; and 

 soon after, millions at a time of these little crabs are 

 seen quitting the sfiore, and making their way slowly 

 to the mountains. 



When the Tellina has occasion to move, she puts 

 herself into a certain position, which occasions her 

 to spring out, with considerable force, to a distance. 

 When the Scallop finds herself deserted by the tide, 

 it jerks itself forward by opening and shutting its 

 shell in a singular manner. When the Razor shell- 

 fish finds itself deceived by the fisherman, when he 

 decoys it from its subterraneous habitation by a 

 sprinkling of salt, and has time to retreat, no such 

 attempt will succeed a second time. When part of 

 the legs of the Sea Hedge-hog are at work, carry- 

 ing him forward, the horns that are nearest in that 

 direction are busily employed in making soundings 

 or feeling the way. The Muscle, when she has 

 commenced spinning her cable, will make a trial of 

 a thread, by drawing it out strongly towards her, 

 before she proceeds to stretch out a second ; and these 

 cords, which she spins with so much art, are, in re- 

 ality, as serviceable to them as cables are to a ship. 

 There are frequently a hundred and fifty of these 



