UNIVALVES. agi 
date of the bleached skeleton that lay there; and 
whatever might have been the occupation of the 
spirit that once inhabited it, the vicinity of a camp 
would afford a motive for residence, and the means 
of support, in what is now an exposed and uninviting 
solitude. 
But to return from this digression. Haliotis, a 
beautiful and well-known species of sea-shell, takes 
its name from a Greek word, signifying sea-ears. 
Patella is derived from a Latin word used for a dish 
with broad sides, probably the origin of our platter. 
It also means the knee-pan, which is not unlike the 
inmate of the shell. Dentalium, from dens, a tooth ; 
which aptly expresses its miniature resemblance to 
an elephant’s tooth. Serpula, from serpo, to creep, 
in reference to the vermiform character of some of the 
shells. 
Different species of this interesting genus attach 
themselves to shells, stones, wood and algz ; others 
are found on the Corallina officinalis; and a rare 
and elegant species, the Cornu-copie, inhabits the 
Mauritius, where it burrows into stone and coral, 
Such are a few of the most conspicuous among the 
elegant assemblage of Univalves which occasionally 
diversify the shores of our own and foreign countries. 
Many others are equally deserving of attention, but 
it is impossible to particularize them here; and the 
