378 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



a myth as the affection of Petrarch for Laura, or the 

 loves of Eloisa and Abelard. Let them, however, speak 

 for themselves, and we will give Linnaeus the pas. 



"The Pinna or Sea- wing is contained in a two- 

 valved shell, weighing sometimes fifteen pounds, and 

 emits a beard of fine, long, glossy, silk-like fibres, by 

 which it is suspended to the rocks, twenty or thirty 

 feet beneath the surface of the sea. In this situation 

 it is so successfully attacked by the eight-footed Poly- 

 pus, that the species perhaps could not exist but for 

 the exertions of the Cancer Pinnotheres, who lives in 

 the same shell, as a guard and companion *" 



" The Pinnotheres, or Pinnophylax, is a small crab, 

 but is furnished with good eyes, and lives in the same 

 shell with the Pinna. When they want food, the 

 Pinna opens the shell and sends its faithful ally to 

 forage ; but if the Cancer sees the Polypus, he returns 

 suddenly to the arms of his blind hostess, who by 

 closing the shell avoids the fury of her enemy ; other- 

 wise, when it has procured a booty, it brings it to the 

 opening of the shell, where it is admitted, and they 

 divide the prey. This was observed by Haselquist 

 in his voyage to Palestine f." 



Crabs, either of this kind or allied to them, the 

 ancients believed to have been the voluntary inmates 

 of the Pinnae and other bivalve shells, which, being too 

 stupid to perceive the approach of their prey, were 

 warned of it by their vigilant friend. Oppian, who 

 calls the Crab invvo<f>v\a%, tells the fable prettily : 



* 'Amoen. Acad.' vol. ii. p. 48. Linnaeus, 'Syst. Naturae/ 

 vol. i. pp. 1040 and 1159. 

 t Darwin (Dr.), ' Botanic Garden,' pp.392, 393. 



