THE NAUTILUS. 113 



There is little about /. obtusa to recommend it, certainly nothing 

 graceful or beautiful, though full-grown specimens are a fair size. 



The object of this note is to record the capture this summer, by 

 accident or by luck, of living shells. As Mr. Taylor did not know 

 it, I judged it might be a good species, and so decided that it was 

 worth a special search this season. My earliest " hunts " in May 

 and June, at low tides, netted me nothing except a few more dead 

 specimens, although I carefully searched the pools at lowest tides, 

 the exposed rocks with their covering of sea-weeds, the haunts of 

 hermit crabs under rocks and stones, sea kelp washed up on shore, 

 and even ihe inside of any large dead shell. I had about decided 

 that nothing but dredging would bring it to light. 



Towards the end of July I joined my family in camp, under can- 

 vas, at Maple Bay, for a three weeks' holiday. This Bay is 4 or 5 

 miles from our home on Quamichan Lake, and is situated on the 

 east, or inside, coast of Vancouver Island. While the bay is rather 

 shut in, it is by no means a small one, but most of the shore is 

 rocky, with little beach. The beach proper is but little more than a 

 quarter of a mile in length, and the greater part is a fine shale. At 

 one end at low tide it is quite muddy, but the other has some nice 

 patches of clean sand, with boulders liberally distributed. It was 

 here that I had taken the dead shells, and it was here also that I 

 went " clam digging " to replenish our larder and add some variety 

 to camp fare. One day after turning the clams out of the pail I 

 found quite a sediment of sand, and a rather casual examination 

 brought to my notice several small univalves, which on closer inspec- 

 tion I recognized as the shell I was hunting for, and better than that, 

 living examples, though rather immature. 



The next morning I followed the tide out to the spot where I had 

 dug the clams, but even then I failed to find any more until I started 

 to dig more clams, and even then it was not right away that I found 

 them. Perseverance, however, brought reward, for presently I 

 found one on a clam, and before very long I was taking them in 

 ones and twos, or even little groups, in this way. Perhaps not more 

 than one clam in twenty had the hapis on them, though some spots 

 proved rich and others barren, and this I found true when digging 

 for them on other occasions. The hapis was found only on living 

 shells, and they were liable to turn up on those dug from extreme 

 low tide to not very far below high-water mark, and on shells that 

 were buried from two to six inches or more. 



