PREFACE 



Living in the woods and in the ponds and streams about us are 

 thousands of creatures, large and small, which are seldom observed, and 

 rarely understood, and are, moreover, often thought too trivial for serious 

 contemplation. Many people when looking at a mollusk will say, " 

 that's only a clam, or a snail," but if they are asked how the snail grew, 

 or where it lives, they are utterly at a loss to answer. 



The author has been frequently surprised by the careless question of 

 some otherwise intelligent person, when he has been exhibiting the shell 

 of some interesting mollusk : " Well, really, now, was that thing ever 

 alive?" And the surprise of others when told that there are such ani- 

 mals as land snails is amazing, to say the least. It is to be earnestly 

 hoped that such a condition of things will soon be changed by the light 

 of knowledge. 



Nature study has now become an established part of the curriculum 

 of all schools, graded and higher, and no apology seems necessary for 

 the appearance of this volume. For reasons which the author has 

 acquired through his connection with the public, as custodian of a public 

 museum, the pages which follow are couched in language somewhat 

 different from the general books on nature which are being published. 

 He believes that the narrative form will be more pleasing than any 

 other style, and will bring the subject closer to the reader. 



The plan of the work is as follows: Professor Parker is a teacher of 

 biology in a university in which Harry and George are students. Howard 

 is a young man, not attending school, but intensely interested in nature. 

 The narrator is a post-graduate student, pursuing special studies. Profes- 

 sor Parker and the narrator are ardent conchologists, and the Professor 

 has interested the three young men in the subject. In the chapters which 

 follow, the quartette of conchologists visit the woods, fields, lakes, and 

 seashore with Professor Parker, who instructs them in the various phases 

 of the science. Local and other museums are visited in the search for 

 knowledge, and the summer's work terminates in the formation of a 

 conchological club. It is the hope of the writer that the use of this 

 method may suggest to some teachers of nature, by little excursions into 

 the country, a new way of interesting and instructing their pupils. 





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