226 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
wind from the bottom to the top. The month, which is 
placed undermost, is large and red, furnished with five sharp 
teeth, which are easily discerned. The jaws are strengthened 
by five small bones, in the centre of which is a small fleshy 
tongue; and from this the intestines make a winding of five 
spires, round the internal sides of the shell, ending at top, 
where the excrements are excluded. But what makes the 
most extraordinary part of this animal’s conformation, are its 
horns and its spines, that point from every part of the body, 
like the horns of a snail, and that serve at once as legs to 
move upon, as arms to feel with, and as instruments of cap- 
ture and defence. Between these horns it has also spines, 
that are not endued with such a share of motion. The spines 
and the horns issue from every part of its body ; the spines 
being hard and prickly ; the horns being soft, longer than the 
spines, and never seen except in the water. T hey are put for- 
ward and withdrawn, like the horns of a snail, and are hid at 
the basisofthespines, serving, as was said before, for procuring 
food and motion. All this apparatus, however, is only seen 
when the animal is hunting its prey at the bottom of the 
water ; for a few minutes after it is taken, all the horns are 
withdrawn into the body, and most of the spines drop oil. 
It is generally said of insects, that those which have the 
greatest number of legs always move the slowest: but this 
animal seems to be an exception to the rule; for though fur- 
nished with two thousand spines, and twelve hundred horns, 
all serving for legs, and from their number seeming to impede 
each other’s motion, yet it runs with some share of swiftness 
at the bottom, and it is sometimes no easy matter to overtake 
it. It is often taken upon the ebb, by following it in shallow 
water, either in an osier basket, or simply with the hand. 
Both the spines and the horns assist its motion ; and the 
animal is usually seen running with the mouth downward. 
Some kinds of this animal are as good eating as the lob- 
ster; and its eggs, which are of a deep red, are considered 
as a very great delicacy. But of others the taste is but in- 
different; "and, in all places, except the Mediterranean, they 
are little sought for, except as objects of curiosity. 
Very different in motion, though not much different in 
shape from these, are the Acorn shell-fish, the Thumb- 
footed shell-fish, and the Imaginary Barnacle. Ihese 
are fixed to one spot, and appear to vegetate from a stalk- 
Indeed, to an inattentive spectator, each actually seems to be 
a kind of fungus that grows in the deep, destitute of animal 
life as well as motion. But the inquirer will soon change his 
