large shells were equivalent in value to two hundred and fifty dollars, 

 and would purchase a canoe or a squaw. The Indians have a unique 

 method of catching these shells. While the squaw paddles the boat 

 slowly along, the Indian stands in the prow and plunges a comb-like 

 spear into the sand. If successful, his spear comes from the water with 

 several of these animals impaled upon it. 



The most peculiar of all the mollusks, so peculiar indeed, that they 

 constitute a separate class, called Amphineura, are the Chitons, or coat- 

 of-mail shells. The shell is made up of eight separate pieces or plates, 

 each interlocking with the other, the whole supported by and buried 

 in a coriaceous mantle, which forms a margin all the way around. This 

 must not be confounded with the true mantle of the animal, for it is only 

 a part of the shell. It is beset with bristles, spines, or hairs, which add 

 much to the peculiar appearance of the mollusk. In some species, 

 well-formed eyes are developed along the sides of this mantle. The 

 Chitons, which are said to be nocturnal in habit, feeding only at night, 

 live for the most part on rocks which are exposed at low water. Their 

 movements are slow, and they appear to be very sluggish in all their 

 actions. When detached and taken from their rocky homes, they have 

 the provoking habit of rolling up like a pill bug, and are sometimes very 

 difficult to straighten out again. When placed on their backs, they some- 

 times right themselves by violently contorting their valves. In various 

 parts of the world they are eaten by natives, and by the poorer classes. 

 The Iceland fishermen believe that if these "sea-bugs," as they call them, 

 are swallowed raw they will prevent seasickness and also quench thirst. 

 It is probable that the cure would 

 prove worse than the disease for most 

 people who cross the ocean. There 

 are about two hundred and fifty species 

 of Chitons, and they may be found in 

 all parts of the world. 



The limpet, or Patella, is a familiar 



-1-1 i , ,1 Patella longicosta, a limpet which 



mollusk to many visitors at the sea- ii ves at the Cape of Good Hope. Left 

 shore. This shell is a depressed, g 5 - ( T u ^ e } ; ri ^ ht ^ ure ' ioside of 

 conical, oval disk, looking not unlike 



a miniature shield. It lives on rocks, to which it clings with great 

 tenacity. Some experiments which were made on the English limpet 

 some years ago, showed that it could sustain a weight of thirty 

 pounds attached to its shell without being pulled from the rock. The 

 animal seems to have a pretty clear idea of local geography, for it inva- 

 riably returns to the same place after its excursions for food, and the 



95 



