104 SHELL-FISH. 



when the creature is alive and active, incased 

 in its expanded mantle, which bears all the 

 bristly ornaments described, no doubt for the 

 purpose of deceiving and alarming its many 

 enemies. This mantle, when the creature is 

 touched, is suddenly withdrawn into the shell, 

 and hence the magic change. Many curious 

 bivalves live attached to the rocks along the 

 coast line or in their crevices. Such are the 

 species of Cardita and Area, the Spondylus 

 gadceropus, the Lima squamosa, and the date shell, 

 Lithodomus lithophagus. 



Where the coasts are of sand, as near Patara, 

 we have a different set of mollusks. Imme- 

 diately along the water's edge, at a depth of 

 an inch or so beneath the sand, are buried 

 myriads of the little bivalve called Mesodesma 

 donacilla. Solecurtus stigillatus is found further 

 out and buried much deeper, also Lucina Des- 

 marestii, Amphidesma sicula and Tellince. Where 

 the sand is coarse we found abundance of the 

 Venus decussata, a shell-fish much eaten by the 

 Greeks. The curious Solenomya mediterranea 

 is also an inhabitant of sandy bays. Where 

 the shore is muddy, as in parts of the Gulf of 

 Macri, Lucina lactea abounds ; and where a 



