112 ACTIVITY OF THE SCALLOP. 



to find this little crab in a Pinna grown at 

 home, but pleasanter to find it in a Greek Pinna, 

 the descendant possibly of the one in which 

 Aristotle caught that little crab's progenitor. 

 The solen is another bivalve of ancient repu- 

 tation which we cannot mistake. It is evidently 

 the Solenecurtus strigillatus, living now, as for- 

 merly, buried two feet below the sand. The 

 'kifivoQTpw, fixed and spiny, and of the oyster kind, 

 was the Spondylus, common enough in the Greek 

 seas. The ktuq, or comb-shell, was the Pecten, 

 which, of all the bivalves, seems anciently to 

 have attracted most attention. The beauty of 

 its form, no doubt, gained it the honour of 

 being the cradle of new-born yet perfect Venus. 

 Its activity made it an object of wonder, and 

 Aristotle truly describes it as the most active 

 of animals without feet. He must have observed 

 it closely and carefully, and his description of its 

 sudden movement towards the surface of the 

 water as if flying, making a hissing noise (caused 

 by the movement), is very exact. He raises 

 a question, often raised since, as to whether the 

 scallop can see, since, on the approach of a finger, 

 it closes its valves. Rondeletius, anxious to 

 examine into the truth of Aristotle's account, 



