The Moon Suail 37 



not without interest. Nor should it be assumed that 

 this peaceful process is devoid of effort. Although not 

 noticeable to the eye, when this animal has wrapped its 

 slimy mass about its prey it is actively engaged in a 

 frightful operation. 



It may as well be said at once that this mollusk is 

 the most ruthless butcher on the floor of the sea. There 

 are other animals which dispatch their victims in far 

 greater numbers, but in point of refined cruelty and 

 deadly technique the moon snail is easily the master 

 executioner. 



In separating the shells of a mussel recently released 

 by this carnivorous creature, we find the interior soft 

 parts to have been nearly eaten away. Nothing re- 

 mains but a few shreds of the fibrous attachment that 

 held the animal to its hinged cell. It could not have 

 been cleaner had the shells been scraped with a scalpel. 

 Near the hinge, on one of the valves, is the telltale 

 perforation whose white countersunk edge, contrasting 

 with the dark exterior, show how the moon snail had 

 reached its victim. Now the clean-cut bevel around 

 this hole denotes the use of an extraordinary tool. 

 This is in truth the case. The moon snail, in common 

 with others of its class, possesses a drilling apparatus 

 that is unique in the animal kingdom. 



The drill is contained in the proboscis, an organ 

 ordinarily retracted within the mantle but capable of 

 considerable extension. It is a curious implement, this 

 drill. It is a transparent, ribbpnlike band of horny 

 texture, the surface of which is ornamented with rows 

 of tiny teeth. The band itself is less than a thirty- 

 second of an inch wide, and the teeth, or cusps, are not 



