THE NAUTILUS. 
101 
last we left to the enjoyment of their home in the deep pools among 
the rocks. 
But I wanted to tell you of the real “ find ” of my summer. On 
the flat surface of the rocks, and nearest the shore, were small in¬ 
dentations and shallow crevices. While looking into these in search 
of a possible new Chiton, I saw a gray object which I picked up 
with the remark that here was some sort of key-hole limpet. 
My little companion says: “What is a key-hole limpet?” and 
so I took out my knife and was about to dissect it to give her a les¬ 
son in conchology, but to my surprise I found I had something 
quite new to myself. 
I had very rarely picked up on the beach a small, pale yellow 
bubble shell never more than | inch in length, but had no idea 
whereabouts this little mollusc had lived. But here in my hand 
was a real live Haminea, the pale greenish shell so nearly transpar¬ 
ent, that it was excusable to at first think it was internal instead of 
on the creature’s back. 
The shell was about | inch in length, and as we found none 
larger, was probably an adult, and it covered less than one-third of 
the mollusk. 
The animal itself was a slimy gray globule, not pleasant to touch, 
and one could not help wondering what possible use or protection 
was this fragile, inconspicuous, insufficient shell. 
Further search revealed several dozen, but they were hard to find 
even after we knew exactly what to look for, so nearly were they 
like their surroundings. 
After that we searched for Haminea in all similar places for sev¬ 
eral miles of our coast, but never again found them ; so I am still 
of the opinion that they are rare in this locality. 
Monoceros engonatum is not rare on this coast I believe, but I 
never found them until that day, I got two, one a fourth of a mile 
from the other. Careful search failed to reveal more, though these 
individuals could not be living alone, and I have no doubt had only 
taken a short excursion, leaving the rest of their families safely at 
home. 
The field of my observations has been but limited; situated 
about midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, but I think it 
is a locality rich in the number of its species. 
