The Moon Snail 39 



panion, both working upon one another somewhat like 

 a pair of shears. This dreadful instrument is a most 

 efficient accessory. It is by introducing this into the 

 drilled aperture that the moon snail becomes a mon- 

 ster. It literally hacks the helpless mussel to pieces. 

 What really takes place is the deliberate fragmentation 

 of the other. To be brief, the moon snail picks its prey 

 out piecemeal. 



And yet there are phases in the life of this creature 

 that have a saving element. Great as are its vices, it 

 is not entirely removed from virtue. Indeed, to depict 

 only the darker aspect of its instincts would be unfair. 

 Therefore, I shall try to bring into relief, also, that 

 element of grace to which it would, no doubt, wish to 

 lay claim. This is its foresight and consideration as 

 a parent. The mother, with a precision born of 

 patience, constructs a protective cradle for her young 

 that is a marvel of dexterity. 



Except for a difference in size, the female Is In out- 

 ward appearance exactly like her smaller mate. The 

 mating season is in midsummer, and it is then that she 

 makes her singular egg case. It resembles nothing so 

 much as a thin, sand-encrusted, cracked saucer or bowl 

 minus a bottom. Now the egg cases of the moon snails 

 are familiar objects on many beaches; they are often 

 washed ashore in thousands. Yet It appears that very 

 few, except naturalists, are aware of their origin. But 

 this Ignorance on the part of the lay person is not with- 

 out good reason. There is little about the egg cases to 

 indicate their Identity. Naturalists themselves, for 

 that matter, have not been In the secret long. For, in 

 works written in the past, but in a period when their 



