40 HANDBOOK OF SHELLS. 



being indicated by a small round hole ; but they bury themselves 

 so fast that you will find it difficult to get at them. Some good 

 specimens, too, of the deeper water forms are sure to be found 

 near the spots where fishermen drag their boats ashore, as they 

 are often thrown away in clearing out the nets ; moreover, if 

 you can make friends with any of the said fishermen, they will 

 be able to find and bring you many nice specimens from time to 

 time. 



The reason that so much has been said about collecting living 

 specimens, is not only because in them the shell is more likely 

 to be perfect, but also because in its living state the shell is 

 coated with a layer of animal matter, sometimes thin and trans- 

 parent, at others thick and opaque, called the periostracum (or 

 spider-mis), which serves to protect the shell from the weather, 

 but which perishes with the animal, so that dead shells which 

 have lain for some time tenantless on the ground, or at the bottom 

 of the water, exposed to the destructive agencies that are con- 

 stantly at work in nature, have almost invariably lost both their 

 natural polish and their varied hues, and are besides only too 

 often broken as well. Since, however, even a damaged specimen 

 is better than none at all, such should always be kept until a 

 more perfect example can be obtained. 



HOW TO PREPARE THE SHELLS FOR THE 

 CABINET. 



The question with which we have next to deal is, after collecting 

 a number of living mollusks, how, in the quickest and most pain- 

 less manner possible, to kill the animals in order to obtain posses- 

 sion of their shells. There is but one way we know of in which 

 this may be accomplished, and that is by placing the creatures in 

 an earthen jar and pouring boiling- water on them. With land, 

 or fresh-water snails, the addition of a large spoonful of table-salt 

 is advisable, as it acts upon them chemically, and not only puts 

 t hem sooner out of pain, but also renders their subsequent extraction 

 lar easier. Death by this process is instantaneous, and conse- 

 quently painless ; but to leave snails in cold salt water is to inflict 

 on them the tortures of a lingering death ; while for the brutality 

 of gardeners and other thoughtless persons who seek to destroy 

 the poor snail they find eating their plants by crushing it under 

 foot on the gravel path, no words of condemnation are too strong, 

 since it must always be borne in mind that snails have not, like 



