CONSIDER. 89 



place and a history, and all waiting, as in a perpetual 

 exposition, to be seen, admired and loved. 



"When I consider the heavens," says David, — and 

 if parents and teachers and kind friends will teach 

 the children to "consider" the works of nature, they 

 will very likely come to conclusions similar to those 

 of the psalmist king. 



"Consider the lilies," said our Savior, and we all 

 know the happy inference which followed. And so 

 I shall greatly rejoice if this little book leads a great 

 many children, of all ages, to consider these humble 

 yet beautiful inhabitants of the shore, the wood, and 

 the stream. 



But this has led me away from our little Pheasant 

 shell, Phasianella compta, Gld., Fas-i-an-el'-la komp'- 

 ta, shown in Fig. 74. The dead shells may 

 often be picked up on sandy beaches, and 

 when magnified by the aid of a lens, they 



Fig. 74- appear very beautiful. The outline is smooth 

 and symmetrical, and the surface is gaily marked with 

 zigzag stripes of red, brown and white, while the 

 operculum is shelly and rounded. 



Sometimes the little mollusks are found alive on 

 seagrass, but the epidermis obscures the beauty of the 

 naked shell. Its length is from one-eighth to one- 

 fourth of an inch. 



Pomaulax undosus, Wood, Po-mau'-lax un-do'-sus, 

 is a southern species, which sometimes grows to a 

 great size. Fig. 75 represents an average specimen. 



It is broadly conical, with a long, triangular aper- 

 ture. The outer lip is thin, the whorls marked with 

 numerous wavy ridges, and the base ornamented with 

 beaded circles. The shell is of whitish pearl, cov- 

 ered with a brown, fibrous epidermis. The oper- 



