The Great Scallop has the power of progressive motion upon the land, and likewise of swimming on the surface of the water. When it happens to be deserted by the tide, it opens its shell to the full extent, then shuts it with a sudden jerk, often rising five or six inches from the ground. In this manner, it tumbles forward until it regains the water.
When the sea is calm, troops of little fleets of scallops, it is said, are sometimes to be observed swimming on the waves. They elevate one valve above the top of the water, which is used as a kind of sail, while they float on the other, which remains on the surface.
CLASS II. ARTICULATA ... JOINTED ANIMALS.
These animals have not an internal skeleton, like the vertebrata; nor are they wholly destitute of a skeleton, as are the mollusca. The hard parts are external, and the muscles are internal. The class includes red-blooded worms, the crustacea, spiders, and insects.
THE LEECH.
If you ever pass through La Brienne, in France, you will see a man pale, and straight-haired, with a woollen cap on his head, and his legs and arms naked. He walks along the borders of a marsh, among the spots left dry by the surrounding waters, but particularly wherever the vegetation seems to present the subjacent soil undisturbed. This man is a leech-fisher. To see him at a distance,—his hollow aspect, livid lips, and singular gestures,—you would take him for a patient who had left his sick bed in a fit of delirium. If you observe him every now and then raising his legs, and examining them one after another, you might suppose him a fool; but he is an intelligent leech-fisher. The leeches attach themselves to his legs and feet, and as he moves along their haunts, he feels them bite, and gathers them as they cluster round the roots of the bulrushes and sea-weeds.
THE CRAB.
The following incident is from a late English journal: "In the year 1812, a sailor, in company with several persons, at Sunderland, perceived a crab which had wandered to the distance of about three yards from the water-side. An old rat, on the look-out for food, sprang from his lurking-place, and seized the crab, who, in return, raised his forcep-claws, and laid fast hold of the assailant's nose, who hastily retired, squeaking a doleful chant, and much surprised, no doubt, at the reception he had met with.