126 



BUBBLE-SHELLS. 



Haminea virescens^ Sby., Ha-min'-e-a vi-res'-sens. 

 Shell very thin, bubble shaped; spire apparently 

 wanting; aperture very large. It is of a greenish 

 white color, and is half an inch long. It is found on 

 mossy rocks along the coast of southern California. 

 The White Bubble-shell shown in Fig. ii6 is 

 named Haminea vesiaila^ Gld. , ve-sik^-u-la. The 

 figure gives a good idea of this thin, deli- 

 cate shell. Its inhabitant is not a strict 

 vegetarian, but devours small mollusks and 

 crabs that happen to come to its home; it 

 lives in muddy places along the shore of 

 Fig. ii6. the ocean or near the mouths of rivers. 

 It has a powerful gizzard armed with teeth, to crush 

 any hard morsels which it may have swallowed. The 

 shell is nearly white, and is an inch or less in length. 

 You will notice that the aperture is extremely large, 

 the spire depressed, and the whole shell quite like a 

 bubble. 



And now in Fig. 117, we have our beautiful Cloudy 

 Bubble-shell, Bulla nebitlosa^ Gld., Bul^-la neb-u- 

 lo^-sa. It is a thin, polished, mottled shell, resemb- 

 ling a large bird's ^g<g. The spire 

 is depressed, leaving a hole; more 

 properly speaking, the body -whorl 

 is elevated above the original spire. 

 The shell is sometimes wholly 

 brown, but in the finest speci- 

 mens it is mottled with white and 

 yellow clouds. Length, from an 

 inch to two inches; southern; some- 

 times found in great numbers. 



Somewhat similar in their ana- 

 Fig. 117. tomy to the last few species, come a 



