of an inch in length, and are oval and solid. They are of various 

 colors brownish, whitish, yellowish, and reddish, variously spotted 

 with white, red, and black. There are three hundred species of these 

 shells, the majority of which live on the rocks and corals, at low- 

 water mark. 



" On the sandy shores of subtropical beaches certain animals with 

 graceful and polished shells, bury themselves from sight in the sand. 

 These are the olive or rice shells, Oliva, whose bright colors and 

 highly polished surfaces rival even the gaudy Conns and Cyprcea in 

 beauty. The foot may be described as plow-shaped, and is admir- 

 ably adapted for digging rapidly in the sand, enabling the animal 

 to quickly hide from sight on the approach of enemies. The long siphon 

 is thrust up through the canal in the anterior part of the shell, and its 

 end protrudes through the sand. The high polish of the surface is 

 due to the voluminous folds of the foot which envelop the shell, 

 hence there is no epidermis. Unlike the Cyprcea, which covers its 

 shell with a glossy coating only upon reaching maturity, the Oliva 

 produces the shiny layer at all periods of its life, the three strata 

 being deposited simultaneously. It is like Cyprcea, however, in dis- 

 solving the inner whorls to a paper-like thinness to accommodate its 

 constantly increasing size. The aperture is so narrow that it is diffi- 

 cult to understand how the animal gets in and out. In many places 

 the olive shells are very numerous, and may be seen crawling rapidly 

 over the beaches when the tide is out. It is recorded 

 that a species living at Panama, Oliva volutella, has its 

 body covered with sand, and when the first incoming 

 wave of the returning tide washes off this coat of sand, 

 it buries itself from sight and does not crawl about 

 again until the succeeding ebb of the tide. There are 

 about ninety species of olive shells. 



" Closely related to the olive shells are the Ancillas, 

 or maiden shells. Their polished yellowish, whitish, 

 or brownish shells are fully as attractive as those of the A maiden shell, 

 olives. Unlike the latter, their spires are rather long, a common shell 

 and some of the species have a large umbilicus. They 8 * India8< 



live in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Australia, Japan, 

 and the West Indies. 



" A neat genus of small shells allied to Oliva is Manjindla, compris- 

 ing about two hundred species, which are found in tropical and sub- 

 tropical seas. The shells are brilliantly polished, and the animals are 

 similar in habits to the olives. 



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