THE OPEN SEA BEACH 299 



America (Manicaria) ; when cut open the kernel 

 is often as fresh as when it fell from the tree, but 

 I have never been able to get one to grow. This 

 palm has enormous entire leaves which may be 

 four or five feet wide and thirty feet long; they 

 are used to thatch roofs of dwellings. Then there 

 is the common gray nicker bean (Guilandina) 

 and more rarely the similar yellow one. The 

 great brown seed of the Entada is usually very 

 common. A variety of interesting seeds will be 

 found in this drift and also the lovely shells of the 

 violet snails associated with the curious, chambered 

 Spirula. The pretty, loosely coiled, shell of the 

 latter is in life concealed within the body of the 

 animal that develops it and which floats on or just 

 beneath the surface of the sea. Though millions 

 of shells are washed up on tropical beaches all over 

 the world only a few fragmentary bits of the 

 animals are ever found. On the southeast coast 

 myriads of sponges are washed up. Among the 

 commoner ones are the "finger sponges" (Euspon- 

 gia) which occur in a variety of forms but consist 

 always of a cluster of hollow "fingers." There are 

 Neptune's cups (Hircina) which may hold from a 

 pint to a bushel, and they vary as much in size 



