20 Beautiful Shells. 
Miss Pratt, in her delightful book on * Common 
Things of the Sea Coast,” observes of these shells 
that, “ We gather up those which we find, and look- 
ing at their structure would fain know something 
of the inmate of such a dwelling. All nature pro- 
claims the goodness of God. We hear that the bird 
which wings its way over our heads has a song of 
joy ; the bee hums delightedly by us; and the little 
shrimp which darts in the clear pool, seems full of 
merriment. Was the inmate of the shell less cared 
for by its Maker? No doubt the little builder had 
some sense of joy, as he framed from his own sub- 
stance the house which excites our admiration. 
Doubtless his existence, short and sluggish as it 
was, had its own consciousness of pleasure; and 
obscure as is his history, and little calculated as 
such a creature might seem to perform an important 
part in the economy of creation, yet we know that 
he had a work to do, not only for the living crea- 
tures of the sea, but for the well-being of man 
himself.” 
CLASSIFICATION OF SHELLS. 
The great naturalist, Linnzeus, divided shells 
into thirty-six genera, each of which comprised a 
number of species; of these species somewhere about 
