38 Dwellers of the Sea and Shore 



visible without the aid of a good lens. This boring 

 apparatus is virtually a rasp armed with hundreds of 

 abrading points. It is located well up in the proboscis 

 and is brought into play through the peculiar ability of 

 this organ to turn itself partly inside out, much in the 

 fashion that the finger of a glove can be turned within 

 itself. 



RADULA, OR RASPING ORGAN OF THE MOON SNAIL. (GREATLY ENLARGED.) 



Attached to the under side of the proboscis, near the 

 end, is a soft circular pad. The presence of this at- 

 tachment at once gives the clue as to how the moon 

 snail penetrates the shell of its victim; for it seems to 

 serve as a sucking disk, and by means of its holding 

 power is the necessary purchase obtained to apply the 

 pressure of the drill. 



But the most significant feature is the pair of cutting 

 jaws just within tlie tip of the eversible proboscis. 

 Each jaw is a thin platelike blade of irregular shape 

 and is fixed so that it presents a razor edge to its com- 



