Note 424 — Chapter XI

Athen., III. 46. From Faber, op. cit., p. 94, we learn that “the pinnotherus finds refuse in the shells of living bivalves, living on the small animalculæ contained in the constant stream of water, which flows in and out of these molluscs. The fancy of the ancients has attributed the status existing between the two species as arising from a friendly alliance, protection and board afforded on the one hand, and watching against and warning of the approach of an enemy on the other. These observations descend from so early a date that we find the pinna and the crab among the Egyptian hieroglyphs, bearing the interpretation of the duty of paterfamilias to provide for his offspring.”