86 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



fully grown. It is impossible, without devoting too much 

 space to this subject, to give more than a general idea of the 

 situations in which land shells are found. Some species are to 

 be looked for on trees and bushes ; others on rocks and stone 

 walls; others again on the ground, and others again on the 

 blades or in the roots of grass. In the tropics it is particularly 

 desirable to watch for the beautiful land snails, which are 

 almost strictly arboreal in their habits. They are to be found 

 on the trunks and leaves of palms, the banana, myrtle, orange, 

 and scores of other trees and shrubs. 



Fresh- Water Shells which inhabit clear and shallow water are 

 easily gathered with a stout hand-net. Where the water is 

 murky, or so deep that the bottom cannot be seen, it is neces- 

 sary to have an instrument like an iron-toothed rake, with the 

 teeth set closely together, to be used as a sort of clam-dredge, 

 raking the bottom and gathering up the mussels. In our own 

 country the amateur collector will doubtless be surprised at the 

 number of species of Unio which will repay the labors of a 

 diligent collector. 



Marine Shells. If you would have one of the jolliest picnics 

 in the world, don a suit of old clothes, equip yourself with a 

 stout basket, a screw-driver with a long handle, and a case-knife 

 with a thin blade, 



" Hang up thy lute and Me thee to the sea." 



Go before the tide is at its lowest ebb, and search in the vicinity 

 of the largest bowlders, under ledges of rock, under loose stones, 

 in shallow pools, in bunches of sea-weed, in fact everywhere 

 along the shore. In these various places you will find cowries, 

 oriners (Haliotis), chitons, limpets, and more others than I could 

 name in an hour. 



When wading in shallow water it is well to look out for the 

 pestiferous sting-ray, and not step on one unawares, lest you 

 find its caudal spine driven through your foot like a poisoned 

 arrow. But, fortunately, they seldom trouble the collector. 

 With the limpets, chitons, and other small shell -fish, you must 

 work the point of your case-knife under them, and with it grad- 

 ually detach them from the rock. Where such prey is plenti- 

 ful, the collecting of it is grand fun, I assure you. 



