I02 Shell Life 



the strap-shaped foot ; it is greatly extended in front 



to form an incurrent tube, and a small opening 



behind serves as an excurrent siphon. The 



O longer diameter of the shell is from one- 

 third to a half -inch. The small creature 

 Interior of moves frccly by means of its foot, and 

 K?i'i°^°hlii attaches itself by an almost invisible thread, 

 hanging in the position shown in the figure. 

 It is fond of taking refuge in muddy discarded shells 

 in rock-crevices, and about the tangled suckers of 

 the larger seaweeds. Its vertical range is from 

 extreme low water downwards. The Minute Kelly- 

 shell (/i. iiiinuta) is much smaller, its longest measure- 

 ment being only one-twelfth of an inch. It has a 

 thin, semi-transparent, glossy shell of a purple-brown 

 tint, darker at the beaks and paler in front. 

 Its principal markings are the irregular lines 

 of growth. There is but one siphon in this Minute 

 species. The foot is comparatively large, ^e^n'iar'ed) 

 very flexible, and much used by the 

 animal for climbing seaweeds. It is found in great 

 abundance all round our coasts at low water and a 

 little beyond. It has sometimes been called the 

 Mullet-shell because of the fondness of that fisli for it. 

 Mr. Hyndman took about 35,000 of these shells from 

 the stomach of a single mullet. This certainly showed 

 praiseworthy industry on the part of the fish in the 

 collection of food, as well as testifying to the good 

 qualities of the mollusk as a fish-food and to its 

 astonishing fecundity. 



In the matter of size the Ruddy Lasaea (Lascea 

 rubra) comes between the two Kellj^-shells, being 

 about the tenth of an inch in lencrth. The shell is 



