Pvn H,i I'UitlS

288 CARDIID^.
inclined to refer to it also some fossil shells which the Rev.
H. B. Tristram brought home from the Great Sahara
and sent to Sir Charles Lyell.
The mode bv which the cockle burrows in sand with
it
its dibble-shaped foot (called by Paley " its stiff tongue")
has been already described : but Mr. Dennis informs
me of another habit, with which I was not before ac-
quainted. He "
says,
I found a large specimen of the
common cockle moored by a byssus to a stake in the
mill-creek. It might be eighteen inches up the stake.
The run of the water is very strong at the spot, and
the bottom shingle." This confirms an observation of
the same kind made by Costa with regard to a variety
of C. exiguum, and which I have before noticed. Phi-
lippi expressed his disbelief of Costa's statement; but
there is nothing wonderful in the cockle or any other
animal acquiring a new habit under altered circum-
stances, if
especially such habit is not inconsistent with
its general organization. It may arise from the development
of a mysterious faculty, closely allied to one
which in our pride we call reason, and consider to be our
own exclusive property. But boast not, O Man, of your
superiority to other animals in this respect ! Your
their Creator may, if he think fit, grant
and
the same
mental privileges as you enjoy to the brute, and even
to the mollusk. See what Coleridge has to say on the
subject :
" And what if all of animated nature
Be but organic harps diversely framed,
That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps,
Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze,
At once the soul of each, and God of all."
The shape of the cockle is extremely variable. In
sheltered or still water, where the ground is muddy or