A STORM.— EAZOR FISHES. 14 1 



grains of sand whicli it rubs against the rock, 

 might be sufficient ; the cilia of others are said 

 to be used in the boring. But none of these 

 seem sufficiently to account for incisions made 

 in flinty rocks or hardest of shell-like sub- 

 stances. Hence it has been suggested that the 

 work may be sometimes slo^vly but surely ac- 

 complished by the means of an acid secreted 

 by the bivalve for this purpose. 



" Borers sometimes entirely bury themselves 

 in rocky sepulchers of their own excavation. 



" In tombs of men whom the world honors 

 lights are sometimes kept burning. Nature 

 honors equallj^ these little miners, to whom 

 she has given lamps while living; and after 

 their busy days are over, their work done, and 

 no man knoweth their sepulchers, still the light 

 of their little lamps may be seen, for these 

 borers are luminous ; and it is said that the 

 Pholas at least retains its phosphorescence so 

 long as a piece remains ; even if that piece be 

 hard and dry it will again give out its light 

 when moistened by the waves. 



