138 WEST COAST SHELLS 



cracker from my pocket, and began to investigate 

 both it and the prospect. In front of me was the 

 strip of sand sloping down to the light waves; behind 

 me was a high bank of earth, and the rocks were on 

 either side; but no shell was to be found except a few 

 well-worn specimens which had been tossed up by 

 some departing wave. 



But I was not expecting to find shells in plain 

 sight, so I cheerfully pulled off my shoes and drew on 

 those convenient appendages, the long rubber boots. 

 (Were I to do it again I would go dressed in a 

 bathing suit and snap my fingers at the waves.) Now 

 I was ready for work, and taking up my hoe I began 

 to dig in the sand. There was plenty of sand to dig 

 in, in fact, too much of it, for it apparently took up 

 all the room and left no place for the shells. 



At length I struck upon a spot where a little 

 stream of water was oozing out from a bank of sand. 

 As I scraped away the surface I saw something which 

 would have made me dance tor joy, had 

 I not been weighted down by the long 

 boots. For there in very truth was a live 

 Olive, with its graceful shell shaped like 

 Figure 112. It had a beautiful pearl- 

 colored body, which it quickly withdrew 

 into the shell and closed the aperture with 



Fig.U2 . . .,, , f^- 1 J 



a very msignmcant scale, which seemed 

 to be an apology for an operculum. 



I picked up the little creature and mused some- 

 what as follows: The name of this moUusk is 

 Olivella hiplicata^ Sby., the Purple Olive-shell. It is 

 about an inch in length, and the shell, while appar- 



