16 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 
sole purpose appears to be the protection of the 
eggs which are deposited within it. 
A live Argonaut was captured at Long Branch 
in August, 1876, and its habits in confinement 
watched for a period of some eight or nine days. 
When not swimming, the animal frequently re- 
verses its position, crawling about with its shell on 
its back in the manner of a snail; at other times, 
again, it is said to paddle about much like an 
oarsman. 
MARINE SNAILS. 
The ocean has retreated, and upon the broad 
PEAR-CONCH (Fulgur carica). 
strand that shelves grad- 
ually to the still breaking 
crest, myriads of shells 
and shell-fragments lie 
scattered about in curling 
zigzags. Among these 
we recognize the spiral 
shell of the snail, and the 
half-shell of the clam and 
its allies; more rarely, 
both valves of the latter 
are found, still firmly 
united by the binding 
ligament. Some of these 
contain the living animal, 
but by far the greater 
number have been robbed 
of their possessors by the 
billows that consigned them to futurity. 
Of the snails the form that is most apt to at- 
