PIIOLADIDiE. 
383 
■Besides this curious property of boring and burrowing in the 
ollows of wood and stone, the Pbolades possess another important 
® ‘aracter — that of phosphorescence. The bodies of many genera of 
, Uusca have the property of shining in the dark, but none emit a 
'b'ht more brilliant than that of the Pbolades. Those who eat the 
uolades in an uncooked state (which is by no means rare, for the 
av °ur of the mollusc does not require the aid of cooking to render it 
Matable) would appear in the dark as if they had swallowed phos- 
pkorim ; and the fisherman who, in a spirit of economy, supj>ed on this 
^ollusc in the dark, would give to his little ones the spectacle of a 
re -eater on a small scale. 
I*' 
,g - l *6. Pholas papyracea (Solander). Fig. 177. Pholas melanoura (Sowerby). 
. ^-he perforations produced in stone by the Pholades have become 
1131 portant evidence in a geological sense. In many countries there 
^ ei 'e evident signs of a considerable sinking of the earth. But in no 
1 Ce is the evidence of this so clear as in the monument of high 
^tiquity on the Pozzuolan coast, known as the Temple of Serapis. 
speaking of the culture of oysters by the Komans, we had 
° Cc &sion to mention the disappearance of the Lucrin Lake, and its 
^Placement by an enormous mountain, the Monte Nuovo. Now, 
. .^'lolo is situated at the foot of Monte Nuovo. We need not add 
la ^ the whole neighbourhood is volcanic. Pozzuolo touches on the 
daterra, on the Lake Avernus, and is not far from Vesuvius ; and in 
0( . < ’ % is the monument of other days, erroneously called the Temple 
^ei-apis. j n reality it was most probably a thermal establishment) 
dished for its mineral waters, although the world has agreed to 
a ^ it a temple. 
