/ 
x? 6 ^ Hijiory of ANIMAL S. 
The other fpecies of the Pentelafmis are, i. The very fhort pedicle, obtufe, bluifli 
Pentelafmis. 2. The fhort and thick pedicled, very fmall-bodied Pentelafmis.V The 
long and diftended-pedicled, very thin-fhelled Pentelafmis, called by the people of 
Lancafhire the Sea-Saufage. 4. The long and diftended-pedicled Pentelafmis, with an 
oblong, obliquely, truncated, blue and white, very elegantly variegated body. 5. The 
fmall but diftended-pedicled Pentelafmis, with a flefti-coloured, oblong body.* 
All thefe fpecies are found on old piles and trees fallen into the fea, on the northern 
coafts of our own kingdom : they all throw out their fimbriated arms, at times, from 
the body of the fhell, and the common people, fuppofing thefe to refemble feathers 
keep up the tradition of the goofe-fhell, by declaring, that all thefe produce, at a cer¬ 
tain period of the year, young birds of that genus. 
P H O L A S. 
r *|T A H E Pholas is a Shell-fifth of the multivalve kind, and, like the former fpecies, 
Jf_ has it’s outer or fhelly covering made up of five pieces: thefe, however, are 
not, as in that genus, thin flaky fcales, as it were, but are of the general form and 
ftrudure of the other fhells: they are alfo very Angular in their proportions and ar¬ 
rangement ; two of them are large, and refemble thofe of the ordinary bivalve fhells 
in all refpe&s ; and thefe feem, on a flight view, to compofe the whole fhell, which 
therefore appears of the bivalve kind ; but a farther examination difcovers the other 
three portions or valves, if they may be fo called; thefe are fmall, and ferve to clofe 
up an opening left by the irregular meeting of the two principal valves. 
The animal inhabiting the Pholas is a Tethys. 
The name Pholas has been very greatly mifapplied by the writers on natural hiftory, 
and great errors and confufion have arifen from this. The Pholades, properly fo called, 
inhabit holes wonderfully made in ftones, and other folid bodies: the corals of the 
larger kinds fometimes ferve as nidus’s for numbers of them, and the bottoms of our 
fthips frequently afford fpecimens of them; they lie at different depths in thefe recedes, 
and thruft out a kind of probofcis to the orifice: this fingular quality in the Pholades 
has been underftood by many as peculiar to them; and, in confequence of this, every 
fhell-fifh found living in the bodies of ftones, &c. has been called a Pholas; but there 
are bivalve fhells of the common mufcle and chama kinds, which live in the fame 
manner : thefe we are to feparate out of the genus of the Pholas, where too many 
have placed them, as the ftrudure of a fhell, not it’s habitation or manner of living, 
is to determine it’s genus. 
Pholas albefcens ohlongus cancellatus et afper. 
!The oblong , white, cancellated , and rough Pholas . 
This is two inches in length, and about an inch and a quarter in diameter in the 
broadeft part, which is toward the middle, but nearer the head than the other extre¬ 
mity : the whole fhell is compofed of five pieces or valves; two of thefe are large 
and lateral; thefe have all the appearance of the valves of the ordinary bivalve Shell— 
fifh ; behind thefe there are two other dorfal valves; thefe are very fmall, fomewhat 
broad and fhort, and befide thefe there is a fifth a fingle one, which is very long and 
narrow, and is extended under the hinge : the colour is a whitifh, with a faint ad¬ 
mixture of a yellowifh or brownifh among it; and the furface of the two large valves 
is deeply furrowed, both in a longitudinal and tranfverfe direction, fo that the whole 
appears cancellated or divided into little fquares: the whole furface is rough, like a file 
to the touch. This fpecies ufually lives in holes in ftones, and in none fo plentifully as 
in the large mafles of the Septaria, or Ludus Helmontii, that lie about many of our 
fliores: there is no way for the creature to get out of it’s habitation, for the aperture at 
the furface of the ftone is ufually not larger than the diameter of a goofe-quill; the 
creature thrufts out a kind of probofcis thus far, but no other part of it’s body can ever 
come to the furface of the ftone. 
This fpecies is frequent about our own coafts, and in mod parts of Europe : the 
manner in which it makes it’s way into the ftones, which by the fmallnefs of the ex-* 
ternal aperture muft be done, while it is very little, and the method of it’s enlarging the 
cavity ^ as it grows, are unknown. The eafy folution has been the fuppofing the mat- 
1 ~ ter 
