11.4 Kansas Academy of Science. 



complete valve of the huge Inoceramus shells whose broken 

 fragments strew the beds of the Upper Niobrara in western 

 Gove and eastern Logan counties. They are so extremely thin 

 and brittle that it is impossible to save them, without covering 

 them with plaster. This I accomplished in the case mentioned. 

 This valve that shows the inside is three feet seven inches long, 

 and three feet four inches high. One graceful elevated curve 

 follows the other, from the hinge to the rim. Think of wander- 

 ing along the beach and coming across one of these shells 

 traveling your way through the sand. If you measure six feet 

 in height, this shell comes up to your waist. I remember, after 

 years of experience with canned so-called "cove oysters," see- 

 ing a tempting sign "Fried Cove Oysters, 40 Cents a Dozen" 

 at a restaurant in Philadelphia, in 1876, and concluded that 

 I would enjoy a dozen for lunch. When in course of time the 

 waiter appeared with a huge platter, loaded as high as possible 

 with my fried oysters, I was very much astonished, and found 

 that three or four satisfied my hunger. But think of a feast 

 requiring two able-bodied men to carry one dainty morsel in, 

 on the half-shell, which would be sufficient for a feast of 

 Titans, for "there were giants in those days." 



