SOLEN.
13
are evidently sensible of vibratory movements in the
air^ as well as on the ground, taking alarm at greater or
less distances according to the state of the atmosphere
and direction of the wind. When the Solen is disturbed it squirts out water in a strong jet ; and having
thus compressed the volume of its body, it lengthens
and darts out its dibble- shaped foot, and rapidly disappears below the surface to a depth of two or three feet.
A Solen- hunt requires considerable alertness; for if
you cannot approach near enough to catch them when
partly exposed to view— and this is not easy, their muscular strength being, in proportion to their size, far greater
than that of a man—and you delve with your hands after
them, they will probably beat you in the race. The
stake is much more important to them than to you, and
it calls for all their energies.
Fishermen entice them
out of their holes by a pinch of salt, makiug (as they
say) the razorfish believe that the tide is coming in.
Reaumur, however, considered that the salt irritates
them, and causes a painful pricking sensation in the
mantle, which induces them to rise to the surface and
endeavour to get rid of the annoyance by expelling the
salt backwards.
He also noticed the blind instinct
which the Solen has when taken out of its hole, and
held between the fingers in the open air, suspended
vertically : it protrudes its foot several times in succession, as if it were in the act of burrowing into its
native sands.
The account given by Poli of Solen-fishing at Naples is curious. We know that the flow and
ebb of the tide there are very slight, and difierent from
what takes place on our OAvn shores. He tells us that
the lurking-place of the Solen is betrayed by a hole in
the sand, agreeing in shape with the apertures of its
tubes or siphons. Where the water is shallow the fish-
13
are evidently sensible of vibratory movements in the
air^ as well as on the ground, taking alarm at greater or
less distances according to the state of the atmosphere
and direction of the wind. When the Solen is disturbed it squirts out water in a strong jet ; and having
thus compressed the volume of its body, it lengthens
and darts out its dibble- shaped foot, and rapidly disappears below the surface to a depth of two or three feet.
A Solen- hunt requires considerable alertness; for if
you cannot approach near enough to catch them when
partly exposed to view— and this is not easy, their muscular strength being, in proportion to their size, far greater
than that of a man—and you delve with your hands after
them, they will probably beat you in the race. The
stake is much more important to them than to you, and
it calls for all their energies.
Fishermen entice them
out of their holes by a pinch of salt, makiug (as they
say) the razorfish believe that the tide is coming in.
Reaumur, however, considered that the salt irritates
them, and causes a painful pricking sensation in the
mantle, which induces them to rise to the surface and
endeavour to get rid of the annoyance by expelling the
salt backwards.
He also noticed the blind instinct
which the Solen has when taken out of its hole, and
held between the fingers in the open air, suspended
vertically : it protrudes its foot several times in succession, as if it were in the act of burrowing into its
native sands.
The account given by Poli of Solen-fishing at Naples is curious. We know that the flow and
ebb of the tide there are very slight, and difierent from
what takes place on our OAvn shores. He tells us that
the lurking-place of the Solen is betrayed by a hole in
the sand, agreeing in shape with the apertures of its
tubes or siphons. Where the water is shallow the fish-