198 WEST COAST SHELLS 



person who reads these lines is to attack each oppor- 

 tunity with real enthusiasm, and to learn to get a 

 tremendous amount of fun out of the most stubborn 

 and dry looking duty that ever stood in your path- 

 way. Most good things in life are not like soft 

 boiled eggs, whose shells you can crack with a tea- 

 spoon; on the contrary they are like hickory nuts, 

 that require an anvil and a hammer if you are to get 

 out the sweet meats, nice and whole. But this little 

 sermon has led us far afield, so we will now return 

 to our shells. 



My first opportunity to gather any of the shells 

 mentioned in this book occurred many years ago. 

 The place was a shallow arm of San Francisco Bay, 

 and the shell was the one shown in Figure 191. 

 I shall never forget the pleasure I felt as I saw them 

 lying by dozens and hundreds on the surface of the 

 mud, after the tide had gone down. They seemed 

 to be enjoying the fresh air, and displayed no anxiety 

 for the return of what we are accustomed to call 

 their native element. Similar species in other coun- 

 tries spend so much of their time in the air that they 

 have been mistaken for land shells. 



The name of this species proved to be Cerithidea 



californica^ Hald., the California 

 Horn-shell. But I was as ignorant 

 of the proper care of the shells as 

 I was of their name; and a pretty 

 source of trouble they were to me, 

 for I had not learned how to clean 

 them correctly, a process that has 

 FijngT been explained on a previous page. 



