34 



CHAPTEB IV. 



DESCRIPTION OF ABALONEB, LIMPETS AKD CHITOK8 



THE largest and most beautiful of our native 

 shells next claim our attention. In the East. 

 they are commonly called " California Shells,** 

 and are much used as decorations for mantel 

 shelves, and bookcases. Our earliest recollection 

 of thun carries us back to the parlor of a par- 

 sonage in New England, where, after the quar- 

 terly ik children's meeting,*' the great shell was 

 passed around, and in it we deposited our big 

 copper cents, which went to help establish 

 schools for heathen children. Eull well did we 

 admire its rich, pearly lustre, and wonder at the 

 row of mysterious holes which perforated its side. 

 Such hallowed memories cling around the shell 

 illustrated in Fig. 2, PI. IX. Here in California, 

 where they are so common, we are apt to lose 

 some of the idea of their exceeding beauty, but 

 in truth, they are crystallized rainbows, rich in 

 all the tints of the spectrum. 



In a commercial point of view, these shells are 

 becoming of more and more value, vast quanti- 

 ties of them being worked into buttons, jewelry, 

 inlaid and ornamental work. 



