THE MUSEUM. 



21 



Fig. i6. 



cowries; its opening is long and nar- 

 row, slightly notched in front, its edge 

 columellar, swollen anteriorly into a 

 cushion, and striped obliquely in all 

 its length. These mollusces belong to 

 the seas of warm countries mainly, 

 where they frequent the sandy bot- 

 toms and clear waters. They creep 



Fig. 17. 



about with much agility, reversing 

 themselves quickly when they have 

 been overturned; they live upon other 

 animals and are flesh eaters. They 

 are in fact taken in some localities by 

 using flesh as bait. The colors of the 

 shell are' very varied, and sometimes 

 fantastically streaked. Oliva ertlios- 

 toma (Fig. i8) is ornamented extern- 

 ally with flexual lines of a yellowish 

 brown, with two brown bands, com- 

 bined with fine yellowish tint of gold 

 color within. Oliva porphyria (Fig. 

 19), commonly called Tent Olive, from 

 the Brazil coast, presents lines of a 

 reddish brown, regularly interlaced 

 with spotted large brown marks upon 

 a flesh-colored ground. The shell has 



a fine natural polish and is highly 

 prized by all collectors. Ranges from 

 3 to 4i inches long. 0/ii'a irisans 

 (Fig. 20) is painted in zigzag lines, 

 close and brown, edged with orange 

 yellow and with two zones of darker 

 brown, and reticulated. Found at 

 Mauritius. Oliva Pcrmnania (Fig. 

 21) is a handsome species and furrow- 

 ed with regularly spaced bands. 



A large number of other handsome 

 species will be figured in the December 

 number. 



A Handful of Weeds. 



FACTS ABOUT SOME ROADSIDE ACQUAIN- 

 TANCES—FOLK-LORE REMINISCENCES. 



"All the idle weeds that grow 



In our sustaining corn." — [King's Lear. 



Old Noah Webster defines a "weed" 

 as "a useless and troublesome plant," 

 i. c. , a vegetable vagabond, not only 

 idle, but mischievous. However worth- 

 less a plant may be from a utilitarian 

 point of view, it is hence not a "weed" 

 till it becomes so thoroughly at home 

 in the land as to harass the gardener 

 and the farmer; so it is merely a ques- 

 tion of locality whether a plant is a 

 weed or not. It may be quite with- 

 out honor in its own country, where 

 even beauty is no excuse for its being, 



Fig. 18. 



yet under alien skies it may find itself 

 the pet of the horticulturist. The lit- 



