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class of Organic Impressions, &c.
335
the insect appears to have emigrated, and after working for itself a lateral passage to a sufficient distance, to have formed a new settlement in the midst of fresh supplies. In the recent oyster shell which I have transmitted, you will perceive that this process has been carried on to a great extent, in the intermedial matter between two or three sets of the pearly plates comprising it; and yet without effecting the destruction of the exterior crust, or in any degree injuring the inner surface of the shell, which remains untouched, and, notwithstanding these attacks, still equally adapted to every purpose required by the œconomy of its inhabitant.