THE PERIWINKLE. 23 



over with tliose little smoth globose shells that children 

 delight to gather, attracted by the variety and gaiety 

 of their hues — brown, black, orange, yellow, often 

 banded ^vith black, or marked with minute chequers. 

 This most abundant little Winkle, for it is one of that 

 genus [Littorina littoralis), feeds on the Fucus, like 

 the unowned cattle on the American Pampas, and it 

 must be owned that a spacious and fertile pasture- 

 gTound is allotted to it. 



Among these we see, less numerous, but sufficiently 

 common, the more bulky and still more familiar form 

 of the Periwinkle {L. littorea)^ marching soberly along 

 beneath his massive mansion, stopping to munch the 

 tender shoot of some Alga, or leisurely circumambu- 

 lating the pretty tide-pool which he has chosen for 

 his present residence. You may tell that all his 

 movements are marked by gravity and deliberation ; 

 for if he does not let the gTass grow under his feet, (I 

 beg his pardon, he has but one foot ; though, as that 

 is somewhat of the amplest, he is not deficient in 

 understanding,) he lets it grow over his head. It is 

 quite common to see one of these Mollusks adorned 

 with a goodly Ulva or other sea-weed that has taken 

 root on the summit of his shell, so that he habitually 

 sits under the shadow of his own roof-tree. 



" But why does he talk to us about such common 

 trash as periwinkles?" Be not captious, gentle reader ! 

 The Periwinkle is an humble member of society cer- 

 tainly, but there are one or two points about him that 

 render him not wholly unworthy of your notice. If 

 you have seen him only fast shut up within his stony 

 shell, with his tight-fitting opercle or " cap"" shut close 



