208 POPULAR BRITISH CONCHOLOGY. 



side of the back, and covered either by the mantle or shell ; 

 and the foot is more or less expanded, at the sides, into 

 swimming lobes. This family is represented in our seas by 



I. Scaphander llgnarms, commonly called B^dla lignaria 

 because of the wood-like appearance of its shell. — This shell 

 is rather pear-shaped, narrowed at the top, with the aperture 

 wide near the bottom and as long as the shell, which is con- 

 vohite — tliat is, the last whorl quite covers all the rest, so as 

 to hide the spire. The animal, when at rest, presents the 

 appearance of a pinkish-white leather roll, formed by the 

 coiled-up lobes of the foot and head covering the head 

 itself and the body, but no part of the shell : it has no eyes. 

 The gizzard, or stomach, is very remarkable, consisting of 

 two circular, shelly plates, acting on each other in a manner 

 similar to a pair of millstones, and well adapted to grind, by 

 the action of powerful muscles, the somewhat undigestible 

 animal substances which form the food of the Sca/phander, 

 My readers will be pleased with the very lively account of 

 this mollusc, which lives under rather deep water on sandy 

 bottoms, from the pen of the Kev. D. Landsborough : — 



"Who can be on the shore without admiring the sea- 

 shells ? God teaches their inhabitants to form and fashion, 

 and paint in a way which man, witli all his boasted taste and 



