COLLECTING MARINE INVERTEBRATES. 87 



There are many bivalves which burrow or bury in the mud or 

 sand, which must be dug out with a stick or trowel, while other 

 species, still more enterprising, bore into wooden piles, and 

 even into rocks ! These, of course, can be collected only with 

 the aid of a hatchet, or chisel, or stone-haminer, as the case may 

 be. If you are on the Florida coast you will do well to search 

 over the coral reefs and the mud flats at low tide. On the latter 

 you will find conch-shells, piimas, and numerous other species. 

 I once made a very successful search for pinnas by wading around 

 barefooted on a sandy flat on which the receding tide had left 

 the water but little over a foot in depth. These shells were 

 always found standing up in the sand, at bay. with their sharp 

 edge up. By going barefooted as I did, you find the shells by 

 stepping on them and cutting your feet, which is to be accom- 

 plished, however, without hurting the thin edge of the shell. 

 A cut foot will heal up, but a broken shell never will. 



CLEANING SHELLS.*- In gathering shells, particularly the ma- 

 rine species, many of them will be found covered with a thick, 

 leathery, and persistent epidermis, and many others will be 

 so buried under rough, limy accretions that their own fathers 

 would scarcely recognize them. However beautiful such shells 

 may be when cleaned, it is no child's play to clean them andgeb 

 them ready for the cabinet. To any one willing to learn, the 

 processes are really very simple ; and what manual labor under 

 the sun could be more interesting to a lover of natural history ? 



Removing the Animal. With a large shell, such as a conch, 

 the first step is to remove the living animal. In some cases I 

 have accomplished this by hooking a fish-hook into the head of 

 the animal and hanging it up so that the weight of the shell 

 constantly pulling down on the animal would cause it to gradu- 

 ally relax and draw out. An excellent plan is to place the shell 

 for a few days in fresh water and macerate the animal sufficiently 

 that it may be drawn out. Fortunately the great majority of 

 molluscs are very small, and it is possible to prepare them for 



* For the best part of the information given under this heading I am indebted to 31 r. 

 I. Greegor, the well-known dealer in sea-shells and Florida " curios," at (>1 Laura Street, 

 Jacksonville, Fla., who is an acknowledged expert in the treatment of shells, not 

 only in cleaning, but in cutting sections, polishing, etc. I obtained the facts from him 

 while he occupied a very high position in the Smithsonian Institution in the north 

 tower, at least fifty feet from the ground. 



