Chapter III 

 THE MOON SNAIL 



About the first thing to strike the attention of the 

 amateur naturalist on his initial acquaintance with the 

 sea is the countless number of dead shells that whiten 

 the beach at various places along the shore. Cast up 

 by the incessant action of the winds and waves, these 

 objects of sundry shapes and sizes are imbedded in the 

 sand and frequently are heaped in veritable windrows. 

 Indeed, the very sand that beautifies the beach is not 

 wholly of true sand, but to a large extent is composed 

 of the crumbling fragments of this selfsame shell ma- 

 terial. Everywhere in sight, littering the shore, is 

 monumental testimony of the millions of mollusks con- 

 stantly meeting their death in the adjacent waters. It 

 is as if some giant hand had swept the sea and left the 

 shells to bleach in the blighting light of the seasonal 

 suns. 



Often the patterns of these fragile tenements are 

 varied and pretty. And there are some of exquisite 

 hues. But by far the greater part of these enormous 

 ossuaries consists of the remains x:)f those homeliest of 

 mollusks, the mussels. 



Now few animals of the sea die directly from old 

 age. Their existence is generally terminated by attacks 



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