146 



WEST COAST SHELLS 



Figure 120 shows us another fusiform shell 

 named Fusinus harfordi^ Harford's Spindle-shell. It 

 is a rare shell, a few specimens having been found off 

 central California. In young shells there is a polished, 

 ruddy brown epidermis, but in older ones there is a 

 suspicion ot shagginess. The interior ot the aper- 

 ture is white. 



And now we will examine a few of the shells from 

 far-off Alaska; that land of wonderful interest, with 

 its hills clothed in evergreen, its mountains tipped 

 with snow, its glaciers and icebergs, its mines and 

 boundless forests, its numberless islands, bays and 

 inlets. Whoever has sailed along the coast of Alaska 

 never forgets its wonderful beauty. In those cold 

 waters, where salmon jump and whales spout close to 

 your steamer, and where the busy world seems far 

 away, — in those polar waters live many mollusks, 

 quite a number of which are classed under the family 

 of the Buccinidae. 



Fig. 121 (*) 



