NERITACEA. 157 



The meanest, vilest, weakest thing, 

 That to his faithfulness will cling. 

 I knew my little fragile form 

 Could not resist the angry storm; 

 I owned my weakness — sought for aid, 

 And every foe a friend was made. 

 And I was taught to find a home 

 In the rude billows' raging foam. 

 Where I could rise at ease, and see 

 My most entire security. 

 Oh ! I would praise the God of Love, 

 "Who sits the water-floods above." 



Family X. Neritacea. 



How beautiful, in all their varied forms, 

 Is this small brotherhood of perfect shells, — 

 The home of toiling mollusks, who delight 

 To frame their dwellings as their sires of yore, 

 And then to paint them with most perfect skill. 



Shell abruptly transversely convoluted, and more or 

 less globose, with the spire short, and the last whorl much 

 enlarged. 



This family comprises two very distinct groups. The first, 

 including the genera Navicella, Neritina, and Nerita, in- 

 habit seas and rivers: of these, the animal is small, and 



