20 Beautiful Shells, 



Miss Pratt, in her delightful book on '^ Common 

 Things of the Sea Coast/^ observes of these shells 

 that, ^' We gather up those which we find, and look- 

 ing at their structure would fain know something 

 of the inmate of such a dwelling. All nature pro- 

 claims the goodness of God. We hear that the bird 

 which wings its way over our heads has a song of 

 joy ; the bee hums delightedly by us ; and the little 

 shrimp which darts in the clear pool, seems full of 

 merriment. Was the inmate of the shell less cared 

 for by its Maker ? No doubt the little builder had 

 some sense of joy, as he framed from his own sub- 

 stance the house which excites our admiration. 

 Doubtless his existence, short and sluggish as it 

 was, had its own consciousness of pleasure; and 

 obscure as is his history, and little calculated as 

 such a creature might seem to perform an important 

 part in the economy of creation, yet we know that 

 he had a work to do, not only for the living crea- 

 tures of the sea, but for the well-being of man 

 himself.^' 



CLASSIFICATION OF SHELLS. 

 The great naturalist, Linneeus, divided shells 

 into thirty- six genera, each of which comprised a 

 number of species; of these species somewhere about 



