SHELLS ON THE SANDS. 35 



varices, giving it the corrugated appearance from 

 which it takes its name. The color of the shell may 

 be either red, orange, gray, light brown, or almost 

 black ; and a collection of them, in a glass, furnishes 

 a very pretty assortment of tints. 



It is pleasant for you to find these pretty shells all 

 clean and dry on the warm sand, but such collecting 

 is not enough to give you the keenest relish for the 

 work. You want to find the little animal at home, 

 and see how he keeps house, before you can form a 

 correct notion of his peculiarities. If you search 

 among the stones at low tide, turning them over with 

 a stove poker or some similar hook, you will probably 

 be able to find some living specimens of our little 

 Amphissa. Such a triumph is not soon forgotten. 

 Don't be deceived, however, by the little hermit-crabs 

 which get part way into dead and empty shells and 

 then draw them around as a piece of armor, but 

 search until vou find the true living mollusk. 



In your search along the beach you will surely find 

 great numbers of a similar species, the little Eel-grass 

 shell, Astyris gansapata, Gld. , As'-ty-ris gau-sa-pa'-ta, 

 which is shown in Fig. 15. This shell, for- 

 merly called Amycla carinata, is about the 

 size of a grain of wheat. The spire is conical, 

 rather long, and marked by faint sutures. 

 Fig. 15. The aperture is small, and in adult specimens 

 the lip is somewhat thickened. The color of the 

 shell is either light or dark brown, and its surface is 

 polished and glistening, and often mottled by dots 

 or stripes. The figure is considerably magnified. 



This little mollusk lives in great numbers at the 

 roots of the eel-grass, and dead shells are washed up 

 abundantly upon the beach. In the variety carhiata 



