12 . WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 



generation to discover and investigate. Two 

 things seem sure: that they are all having what is 

 to them a happy existence, and that they are all 

 living in the places which they seem best fitted to 

 inhabit. 



Out of all this throng of life we may each select 

 one particular kind, and seek to know them more 

 thoroughly than we do the rest. I have selected 

 the Mollusks, because they have beautiful shells 

 and interesting habits, and because they may be 

 found in so many and so diverse situations. Be- 

 sides, there are a great many mollusks which do 

 not now live in the ocean, though perhaps their 

 remote ancestors did, away back in the dim past. 



But at this time we have land mollusks and 

 fresh-water mollusks in abundance, besides the 

 many marine forms. So it is not necessary for 

 you to go to the seaside to gather living mollusks, 

 and if you happen to live off in the valleys or in 

 the mountains, you will be pretty sure to find 

 some of them, and to have a chance to study their 

 forms and their habits. 



There are three classes of mollusks which live 

 along the sea-shore, and each of these classes is 

 further divided into many genera and species. The 

 first class includes all those creatures which resem- 

 ble the squid and the cuttle-fish. They have a 



