122 



WEST COAST SHELLS 



Fig. 94 



gouldiana^ Gould's Bubble-shell. 

 It is thin, polished and mottled, 

 resembling a large bird's egg. The 

 spire is depressed, or more properly 

 speaking, the body-whorl is ele- 

 vated above the original spire. 

 This species lives in the south. I 

 have gathered the shells abun- 

 dantly at San Pedro, when the tide 

 was low. The shell is so delicate 

 that it is almost impossible to re- 

 move the animal without injuring the inner whorls. 

 Fortunately, excellent specimens may be found, al- 

 most fresh, from which every trace of animal matter 

 has been eaten by little crabs and similar animals. 

 The shell is sometimes wholly brown in color, but in 

 the finest specimens it is mottled with white and 

 yellow clouds. It was named by Prof. Pilsbry. 



Haminea vesicula^ Gld., the White 

 Bubble-shell, is shown in Figure 95. The 

 shell is not strictly white however, unless 

 it is bleached, 'but when fresh it is of a 

 pale greenish 3^ellow. It is very thin 

 and fragile and can easily be crushed by 

 the fingers. And yet its inhabitant is 

 not a strict vegetarian, but he devours small mol- 

 lusks and crabs that happen to come to his home, 

 which he locates in a muddy place along the shore 

 of the ocean near the mouth of some river. His ali- 

 mentary canal is {:)rovided with a powerful gizzard 

 armed with teeth to crush any hard morsels that he 

 may have swallowed. The figure represents a rather 



Fig. 95 



