THE OWL-SHELL. 



99 



On the outside the shell is usually rough, brown, 



and unsightly; within, it is 

 very dark and lustrous, and 

 has a bluish white center 

 marked with brown. In 

 some specimens, the part 

 within the horse- shoe 

 shaped muscle scar greatly 

 resembles a horned owl sit- 

 ting upon his perch. The 

 shell is rather flat, and the 

 apex is near one end. The 

 length of the shell is some- 

 times as much as three 

 inches, though commonly 

 Fig- »4. it is much less. 



Fig. 85 represents a very pretty shell, commonly 

 known as the White Cap. Its name is Acmam mitra, 

 Esch., Ak-me'-a mi'-tra, though it 

 was once thought to belong to the 

 genus S cur via. Everybody who 

 walks along the beach picks up this 

 pleasing white shell, with its smooth 

 surface and conical form. Even if you 

 have a hundred in your cabinet 

 already, you wish for every new one which you see, 

 and it is so white and pure and graceful that you don't 

 wonder the ladies sometimes wear them attached to 

 their ear-rings. You may occasionally find a living 

 specimen, but the most of them dwell below the tide 

 mark, and furnish us nothing but their empty shells. 

 Stony vegetables often thrive upon these shells, and 

 you oftennnd one covered with knobby nullipores, or 



Fii 



