The Solen, or Razor-Fish
'His mansion he extends,
So well concealed beneath the crumbling sands.'
XXIII.
Few people who are in the habit of visiting the sea-shore but must have noticed the empty shells of the animal about to be described. I allude to the Solen, or Razor-Shell, commonly so called from its resemblance to the handle attached to a barber's scythe.
This bivalve, improbable as the statement will appear to the uninitiated, is one of the most efficient burrowers to be met with on our shores.
By means of its fleshy foot it digs a hole in the mud or sand. Sometimes it retreats from the surface to a distance of several feet, but generally remains sufficiently near to allow its short, fringed siphons to project above the sand.
In walking along the beach, left bare by the receding tide, the pedestrian may often perceive little jets of water thrown up at his approach. These jets proceed from the Razor-Fish in question. Although we may be several yards from his burrow, his sense of feeling is so acute, that the faintest vibration of the earth around causes the creature to retire alarmed within his dwelling.