COLLECTING MARINE INVERTEBRATES. 85 



and the West Indies can be dried without soaking-, and the 

 spines will not fall off. 



SHELLS. " Living " and " Dead " Specimens. The first thing 

 that the amateur needs to learn about a shell is that it may be 

 living 1 or dead. As a general thing 1 , what is technically called 

 a " dead " shell is worthless in a cabinet. A live shell is one 

 which has been collected with a living- mollusc in it, and then 

 duly cleaned, preserving- all its beautiful colors. A dead shell 

 is one in which the occupant died a natural death, has lain and 

 bleached in the sunshine until its colors are entirely gone, and 

 its form also ruined by the weather. Therefore I say, leave 

 dead shells alone, unless it be that you are making an exhaust- 

 ive collection of the species in a given locality, when a dead 

 shell which is identifiable is as good a record as a living- one. 

 Where a shell is actually devoid of color, a dead shell is as g-ood 

 as a living one, provided it is collected before its edges or its 

 angles have been rounded by exposure to the sun and rain. 

 Many a living- shell has an epidermis, the same as an animal, 

 while a dead shell has none. 



When shells are obtainable, who can resist the impulse to 

 g-ather them ? The man, woman, or child who is proof against 

 the seductive powers of the beautiful and many-colored shells 

 of the seashore "is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils." 

 Next to the pleasure of collecting shells one's self is that of 

 witnessing the keen delight of children and ladies in gathering 

 these beautiful treasures of the sea. If you have never yet had 

 an opportunity to stroll along the smooth sands of an ocean 

 beach at low tide, and gather your basketful of beautiful shells, 

 curious sponges, bits of coral and coralline, while your soul is 

 soothed by the rhythmic music of the surf, then I pity you. 

 You have indeed yet something left to live for. 



Hooker has divided the shell-bearing mollusca into three 

 great groups land, fresh -water, and marine and the shell col- 

 lector will do well to study each one separately. 



Land Shells. These are most abundant in the tropics, less so 

 in the subtropical regions, and are rare elsewhere. They are 

 seldom found where moisture is not abundant. In the tropics 

 they are to be collected all the year round, but in the temper.-itr 

 zone it is best to collect them in the autumn, when they are 



