PH O 
or even penetrating the foftefl: fubftances. It is 
indeed furnifhed with two teeth; but thoie are 
placed in fuch a fituation as to be incapable of 
touching the hollow furface of it's ftony dwel- 
ling. It has alfo two covers to it's fhell; but 
thefe can render it no afllftance as a miner. The 
inftrument with which it performs all it's opera- 
tions, and buries itfelf in the hardeft rocks, is 
only a broad fieflay fubftance, fomewhat refem- 
bling a tongue, iffuing from the bottom of it's 
fliell : with this foft yielding tool it perforates the 
moft folid marbles ; and having, while yet young 
and fmall, made it's way, by a very narrow en- 
trance, into the body of the ftone, it there begins 
to expand, and gradually to increafe it's apart- 
ment. 
The feeming unaptnefs, however, of thefe ani- 
mals, for penetrating into rocks, and there form- 
ing habitations, has induced many philofophcrs to 
conjefture, that they enter the ftone while yet 
in a fpongy ftate; and, from the petrifying quality 
of the water, that the whole rock afterwards hard- 
ens round them by degrees. Thus it was fup- 
pofed that any penetrating quality was unjuftly 
afcribed to them, as they only bored into a foft 
fubftance, which became indurated by time. 
This opinion, however, has been confuted in the 
moft fatisfaclory manner by Dr. Bohads, who ob- 
ferved, that many of the pillars of the temple of 
Serapis at Puteoli were penetrated by thefe ani- 
mals. Hence he very rationally concludes, that 
the Pholades muft have penetrated them pofterior 
to their ere6tion; for no artificer would have la- 
boured a pillar into form, had it been honey- 
combed by worms in the quarry. In ftiort, 
there can be no doubt but that the pillars were 
perfefVly found when eredled; and that thefe ani- 
mals attacked them during the time they continued 
buried under water by means of an earthquake 
which fwallowed up the city. 
From hence it appears, that in all nature there 
is not a greater inftance of perfeverance and pa- 
tience than what the Pholas appears to exhibit. 
Furniflied with the blunteft and fofteft auger, by 
flow, reiterated, and fuccefsful applications, it ef- 
fefts what other animals are incapable of perform- 
ing by force, penetrating the hardeft bodies by 
means of it's tongue alone. When, while yet 
naked and very fmall, it has gained an entrance, 
and has buried it's body in the ftone, it there con- 
tinues for life at it's eafe; the fea- water which en- 
ters by the little aperture fupplying it with what- 
ever it's nature demands. When at any time 
the animal has admitted too great a quantity of 
water, it is obferved to fpurt it out of it's hole 
with fome degree of violence; and on this feem- 
ingly fpare diet it quickly grows larger, and foon 
finds itfelf under the neceflity of enlarging both 
it's habitation and it's ftiell. 
The motion of the Pholas is flow beyond con- 
ception ; it's progrefs keeps pace with the growth 
of it's body; and, in proportion as it acquires 
magnitude, it makes it's way farther into the 
rock. When it has penetrated to a certain 
length, it changes it's former direction, and hol- 
lows downward; till at laft, when it's habitation is 
compleated, the whole apartment refembles the 
hole of a tobacco-pipe, the aperture in the fliank 
being that by which the animal entered. 
Thus immured in it's rocky cell, the Pholas 
lives in darknefs, indolence, and plenty ; never 
removing from the narrow rnanfion into which it 
PHY 
has penetrated ; and feeming fully fatisfied with 
being enclofed in it's own fepulchre : the influx of 
fea-water, that enters by it's little gallery, fup- 
plies all it's wants; and, without any other fuftc- 
nance, it grows from fcven to eight inches in 
length, and proportionably thick. The fliell 
which covers the animal in the body of the rock 
affumes different forms ; being fometimes com- 
pofed of a number of valves; and fometimes re- 
fembling a tube with holes at either end, one for 
receiving it's food, and the other for voiding it's 
excrements. 
Neverthelefs, though the Pholas is tlius im- 
mured, it is not that folitary animal which it at 
firft fight appears to be: it fometimes proceeds a 
great way into the heart of the rock, penetrates 
into the retreats of others of the fame fpecies, and 
frequently crofl^es their galleries. Whether this 
meeting of the kinds be accidental or of choice, 
few can prefume to determine; but certain it is, 
they are moft commonly found in numbers in the 
fame rock, and fometimes above twenty are dif- 
covered within a few inches of each other. 
Thefe creatures are found in great numbers at 
Ancona, in Italy; they are alfo difcovered along 
the fliores of Normandy and Poitou, in France; 
and on the coafts of Scotland and Wales. Their 
flefli is generally confidered as a peculiar delicacy 
at the tables of the luxurious. 
PHOS<ilAS. An appellation by which fome 
ornithologifts exprefs a bird of the duck kind, 
about the fize of the common widgeon. The body 
is remarkably flat; the beak and legs are blue; 
and the head and neck are brownifli, variegated 
with numerous triangular black fpots. 
PHOXINUS. A claffical name by which 
ome authors exprefs the roach and the minnow. 
PHRYGANEA. A genus of the neuroptera 
order of infedls: the charaflers of which are; that 
the mouth is deftitute of teeth; the palpi are four, 
and the ftemmata three; the antennse are longer 
than the thorax; and the wings are incumbent, 
the longer being folded. 
Linnseus enumerates twenty-four different fpe- 
cies. See Cade-Worm. 
PHYCIS. A fifti of the truttaceous kind; 
more ufually called call arias, or afellus callarias; 
and tinea marina, or fea-tench. 
Phycis is alfo an appellation given by Artedi, 
after Ariftotle, Pliny, and other ancient natura- 
lifts, to a fifli nearly allied to the genus of the 
blenni ; called by fome trebius and fuca; and, ac- 
cording to Rondeletius, denominated tinea ma- 
rina by the Italians. Salvian, however, contra- 
di<5ls this affertion; and the matter is yet unde- 
cided among ichthyologifts. 
PHYSALUS. An appellation by which 
Rondeletius expreffes a fpecies of fea-infe6l of the 
fcolopendra marina kind ; fuppofed by fom.e to be 
fynonimous with the fcolopendra marina or cen- 
tipes of the Irifli fea, described by Molyneux; 
but, on an accurate inveftigation, this does not 
appear to be the cafe. The Phyfalus of Ronde- 
letius has no mouth, whereas the fea centipes of 
Ireland has a remarkably large one: that of Ron- 
deletius is wider in the middle, and tapers at each 
end; but the Irifli kind is largeft at the head, and 
tapers from thence all the way to the tail. Ron- 
deletius's has tubercles on the back, but that 
found in the Irifh fea has only hairy ftripes; the 
former is poifonous, the latter is by no means fo. 
On the whole, we may fafely conclude, that thefe 
are 
