CHAPTER IX 
THE SMALLER SEA-SHELLS 
When the tide is high, the waves often wash up 
great numbers of little shells into sheltered coves, 
and leave them there to be gathered when the tide 
has ebbed away. It is very pleasant to lie down 
upon the warm sand, on a summer afternoon, and 
while the waves are rushing to and fro at your 
feet, to look for these beautiful bits of organic 
structure. Whenever you find a pretty one you 
put it in a little bag, or what is more likely you 
lay it away in some large shell which you have 
picked up for that purpose. 
Among the most abundant of the shells to be 
thus found on our coast is the little Frieze-cov- 
ered Dove-shell, Columbélla gausapata, Gould, 
(Astyris gausapata), shown in Figure 188. 
The shell is really about the size of a grain 
of wheat. The spire is conical, the lp 
thickened, and in the variety carinata, 
Hinds, there is a distinct keel on the upper 
part of the whorl. The coloring of the shell is 
chestnut brown and its surface is polished and 
Fig. 188, x + 
