THE WONDEES OF THE SHORE. 127 



The bivalve* who has burrowed into the limestone 

 knot (the softest part of the stone to his jaws, though 

 the hardest to your cliisel) is scandalized at having 

 the soft mouths of his siphons so rudely touched, and 

 taking your finger for some bothering Annelid, who 

 wants to nibble him, is defending himself; shooting 

 you, as naturalists do humming-birds, with water. 

 Let him rest in peace ; it will cost you ten minutes' 

 hard work, and much dirt, to extract him ; but if you 

 are fond of shells, secure one or two of those beau- 

 tiful pink and straw-coloured scallops (Hinnites 

 Pusio, Plate X. Pig. 1), who have gradually incorpo- 

 rated the layers of their lower valve with the rough- 

 nesses of the stone, destroying thereby the beautiful 

 form which belongs to their race, but not their delicate 

 colour. There are a few more bivalves too, adhering 

 to the stone, and those rare ones, and two or three 

 delicate Mangelise and ISTasssef are trailing their 

 graceful spires up and down in search of food. That 



* Saxicava rugosa, Plate II. Fig. 2. 



+ Plate VIIL represents the common ISTassa, with the still more 

 common Littorina littorea, their teeth-studded palates, and the free 

 swimming young of the N^assa. — Vide Appendix. 



