A4 Beautiful Shells. 
water. In brooks, as well as in stagnant pools, 
which abound with aquatic plants, they may be 
found in vast numbers, feeding upon the moist 
vegetation. 
The Common Limnea (DZ. stagnalis) is mostly 
an inhabitant of stagnant waters, where it is often 
seen floating with the shell reversed, as in a boat ; 
this shell, like most of those of the Fresh-water 
Mollusks, is thin, and easily broken ; the shape, it 

will be seen, is peculiarly elegant, the spire being 
slender and pointed—very different from that of 
the Spreading Limnea, called by naturalists, D. 
auricularia, from aurus—the ear, to which the 
broad aperture, or opening of the shell, may be 
compared; this resembles the other species in its 
habits. The Horny Planorbis, in Latin P. corneus, 
from cornu—a horn. The shape, you will see, is 
flat, the whorls rolling upon each other lke the 
