276 



WEST COAST SHELLS 



bears is the door which the snail constructs across 

 the entrance to his shell when he goes into retirement, 

 as many ot these creatures do during some part of the 

 3^ear. In the dr}' regions it is during the summer, 

 and in the colder parts ot the coast it is during the 

 time of frost anci snow. This epiphragm is not a 

 permanent affair like an operculum, but it is con- 

 structed of dried mucus and resembles white blot- 

 ting paper. Sometimes there are several layers, one 

 behind the other. When more favorable conditions 

 for the active life of the snail arrive he loosens these 

 layers of paper and pushes them out of the way. The 

 next season he constructs new ones. 



The fine species of which 

 Figure 267 gives a good 

 idea, lives mostly in the 

 north, and is especially 

 abundant in Oregon and 

 Washington. The shells vary 

 in size and color, but the 

 larger ones are an inch and 

 a half in diameter. The color is generally dark be- 

 neath, but it is lighter and more or less banded above. 

 Albino specimens have been found. The animal has 

 a tinge of red in its complexion, and altogether I 

 know of no more beautiful combination of form and 

 color than is seen some misty morning in summer, 

 when this fine snail is found extended on a cushion 

 of fresh green moss, beneath the protecting foliage 

 of an old forest tree. Such a combination I once saw 

 in one of the parks of the city of Seattle. It is need- 

 less to say that I did not disturb the beautiful crea- 



Fig, 267 



