228 



WEST COAST SHELLS 



Fig. 222 



is curiously tinted with a bright green. The brown 

 o])erculuni is very shaggy, and the animal is beauti- 

 fully tinged with red. Taken as a whole this is a 

 very beautiful and interesting species. The figure 

 represents a comparatively large specimen. One very 

 small specimen was found by Berry in Monterey Bay 

 at a depth of twelve fathoms, but I have never seen 

 it upon the shore so far north. 



Some of our choicest shells be- 

 long to the next genus, and one 

 of the prettiest of all is named 

 CalUostoma annulatum^ Mart., 

 the Ring Top-shell. Figure 222 

 represents a large specimen of 

 this shell, which is thin and deli- 

 cate, light brown in color, while 

 the sutures are marked with a rich line of purple, 

 and the whorls are traced with sculptured points. It 

 is seldom found on the beach, but is obtained from 

 the seaweed at some distance from the shore. Too 

 delicate to bear the 

 beating of the surf upon 

 the rocks, its home is in 

 deep water, where it 

 clings to long seaweeds 

 near the surface, though 

 when the weather is 

 rough it sinks to more 

 quiet abodes. 



Ouite similar in gen- 

 eral form and habits is 

 the Channeled Top- 

 shell, CaUiostoiua ca- Fig. 223 x \ (*> 



