THE OPEN SEA BEACH 285 



which the entire animal formerly expanded had 

 withdrawn. Its nacreous surface shone as though 

 it had been varnished, bringing out in detail its 

 wonderful color markings of blue-gray and brown- 

 ish zigzag flames on a yellow ground. I shall 

 never forget my thrill of delight. Then when I 

 looked around I found numberless furrows in the 

 sand and at the end of each was a living Oliva. 

 They burrow to a depth of a few inches and come 

 up to crawl about for food just at the surface. I 

 had thought that so brilliant a shell would attract 

 enemies, but whenever the animal comes to the top 

 of the sand the shell is covered entirely with its 

 foot -which is always the same color as the material 

 in which it lives! If the sand is white the foot is 

 white, if it is gray or yellow or even black the foot 

 corresponds in color ! 



In little bays or around temporary pools which 

 have been left by the tide one often finds ricks of 

 small, interesting shells and sometimes minute 

 species are mixed with dirt and trash so that all 

 must be carefully looked over, perhaps with a 

 hand glass, in order to discover all the treasures. 

 Again large shells sometimes lie in veritable fur- 

 rows on this coast so abundantly indeed that a 



