FACULTY OF LOCOMOTION. 471 



the name of f Argus/ the gentleman so bountifully 

 furnished with eyes, that some of them were always 

 awake*; and certainly, if eyes they be, they are 

 placed in the only position in which they could be 

 made available as optical instruments. 



Some of the Scallops are able, by a series of 

 spasmodic Sittings, to jump about vigorously ; nay, 

 if we are to believe some authors, they will occa- 

 sionally leap out of the pot in order to escape from 

 being boiled, a feat which they accomplish by a sud- 

 den strong effort to close their valves after the shells 

 have been opened to the utmost. When deserted by 

 the tide, it is said they will tumble forward in this 

 way, until they have regained the water. Some 

 writers even assert, that by flapping their valves with 

 a very quick motion, they can rise up from their beds 

 in the deep, and navigate the surface, having one 

 shell raised, and disposed so as to catch the breeze 

 in its concavity, while the other serves as a boatf. 

 How far this account may be true we know not, 

 although we think it probable the sailing part of it is 

 an exaggeration ; there can, however, be no doubt of 

 the locomotive capabilities of the Pecten, at least in 



* " Centum luminibus cinctum caput Argus habebat, 

 Inde suis vicibus capiebant bina quietem ; 

 Caetera servabant, atque in statione manebant." 



f " So the emperor Caligula, 



That triumph'd o'er the British sea, 

 Engaged his legions in great bustles, 

 With periwinkles, prawns and mussels, 

 And led his troops with furious gallops 

 To charge whole regiments of scallops." 



