MOLLUSCA—MUSCLE. 765 
THE MUSCLE,! 
As is well known, consists of two equal shells, joined at the back by a strong 
muscular ligament that answers all the purposes of a hinge. By the elastic 
contraction of this, the animal can open its shells, at pleasure, about a quar- 
ter of an inch from each other. The fish is fixed to either shell by four 
tendons, by means of which it shuts them close, and keeps its body firm 
from being crushed by any shock against the walls of its own habitation, 
It is furnished, like all other animals of this kind, with vital organs, though 
these are situated in a very extraordinary manner. It has a mouth furnish- 
ed with two fleshy lips; its intestines begin at the bottom of the mouth, 
pass through the brain, and make a number of circumvolutions through the 
liver; on leaving this organ, they go on straight into the heart, which they 
penetrate, and end in the anus; near which the lungs are placed, and 
through which it breathes, like those of the snail kind; and in this manner 
its languid circulation is carried on. 
The multitude of these animals in some places is very great; but from 
their defenceless state, the number of their destroyers is in equal pro- 
portion. 
But notwithstanding the number of this creature’s animated enemies, it 
seems still more fearful of the agitations of the element in which it resides; 
for if dashed against rocks, or thrown far on the beach, it is destroyed with- 
out a power of redress. In order to guard against these, which are to this 
animal the commonest and the most fatal accidents, although it has a power 
of slow motion, which we shall presently describe, yet it endeavors to be- 
come stationary, and to attach itself to any fixed object it happens to be 
near. For this purpose it is furnished with a very singular capacity of bind- 
ing itself by a number of threads to whatever object it approaches; and 
these Reaumur supposed it to spin artificially, as spiders their webs, which 
they fasten against a wall. Of this, however, later philosophers have found 
very great reason to doubt. It is, therefore, supposed that these threads, 
which are usually called the beard of the muscle, are the natural growth of 
the animal’s body, and by no means produced at pleasure. 
Its instrument of motion, by which it contrives to reach the object it 
wants to bind itself to, is that muscular substance resembling a tongue, 
which is found long in proportion to the size of the muscle. In some, it is 
two inches long; in others, not a third part of these dimensions. This the 
animal has the power of thrusting out of its shell; and with this, it is capa- 
ble of making a slight furrow in the sand at the bottom. By means of this 
Turrow, it can erect itself upon the edge of its shell; and thus continuing to 
1 Mytilus. Shell longitudinal, equivalve, regular, pointed at the base, and aghenihe by 
a byssus: beaks almost straight, terminal, an pees hinge lateral, generally without 
teeth; ligament marginal, subinterior; museuar impression elongated, :lavate sub- 
lateral. 
