METHOD OF COLLECTING 



CLEANING SHELLS, ETC. 



Shells can only be expected perfect, when they are found with 

 the animal alive in them, or taken by the dredge or trawling-net 

 from their native beds ; fine specimens are sometimes found ad- 

 hering to fishermen's lines or nets. After violent storms many 

 excellent shells are often found on the beach, driven from their 

 beds by the agitation of the waters ; on such occasions perfect 

 specimens are often to be met with. The Conchologist ought, 

 therefore, to avail himself of every opportunity, of walking along 

 the beach, immediately after the tide begins to recede. The 

 greater part of shells seen in collections, are picked up dead on 

 the beach, and are therefore seldom rer^ perfect, as they are tos- 

 sed to and fro by the waves, and either worn or broken ; should 

 they even be driven beyond the reach of the tide, in this situa- 

 tion they are exposed to the continual heat of the sun, by which 

 their colours become faded. 



River and land shells are mostly thinner than those of the 

 sea: though this is by no means a general rule, as the Paper 

 Nautilus, some of the Helices, and Pinnae, are extremely thin 

 and brittle. 



Several of the land shells are very beautiful, and elegant in 

 their form, particularly those found in tropical climates. In 

 Africa, they grow to an amazing size, and would be very un- 

 vi'elcome guests in our house gardens, as they commit great 

 havoc among the esculent plants. The Achatina Zebra of Afri- 

 ca, is very frequently found seven inches from the apex to the 

 base. A few of our own land shells are very beautiful ; but 

 from their being familiarized to us, we look on them with the 



