BEAUTIFUL SHELLS. 



WHAT AKE SHELLS ? 



Dr. Johnson gives us no less tlian eiglit different 

 meanings for tlie word Shell. Firsts lie calls it 

 '^Tlie liard covering of anytliing; tlie external 

 crust/' Second, ^^Tlie covering of a testaceous 

 or crustaceous animal.'"' And liere we may stop, for 

 tliis is just tlie signification whicli lias to do with 

 our subject ; so let us turn tlie sentence inside out, 

 and see "wliat we can make of it. We all know 

 what a covering is — an outer coat, a case, a protec- 

 tion from injury, a husk, a crust, a — in short, a 

 sliell, — scyll or scellj as our Saxon forefatliers called 

 it; sclialej as tlie Germans now term it. No Latin 

 nor Greek here, but tlie good old Saxon tongue, 

 somewhat rough and rugged, perhaps, but stout and 



