THE RAZOR FISH. 



Description Peculiar motions. 



THE RAZOR FISH. 



THE shells of these fish are bivalve, oblong, 

 in shape somewhat resembling the handle of a 

 razor, and open at both ends. The hinge has 

 a small and sharp reflected tooth, sometimes 

 double, not inserted into the opposite valve. 

 The animals are similar to the pholades. 



Several of the bivalved shell fish have the 

 power of performing a progressive or retrogade 

 motion, by an instrument that has some resem- 

 blance to a leg or foot, and called the tongue ; 

 but the razor fish can, at pleasure, make this 

 assume almost every kind of form, as their exi- 

 gences require. By this tongue they are not 

 only enabled to creep, to sink into the mud, or 

 disengage themselves from it, but to perform a 

 motion which no one could suppose was practi- 

 cable for shell fish. 



All the species of razor fish are incapable of 

 progressive motion on the surface ; but they dig 

 a hole or cell in the sand, sometimes two feet in 

 depth, in which they can ascend or descend at 

 pleasure. The instrument, or tongue, by which 

 they perform all their motions, is situated at the 

 centre. It is fleshy, cylindrical, and tolerably 

 long. When necessary, the animals can make 

 the termination of the tongue assume the form 

 of a ball. The razor fish, when lying on the 

 surface of the sand, and about to sink into it, 



