IN THE SEA 177 



like a very special brandy-ball or lollipop. This, 

 too, is a British shell that has invaded America, 

 where it has established at Bar Harbour a well- 

 known colony rejoicing in vermilion stripes. 



It is an interesting and sub -consciously stimu- 

 lative exercise to analyse the subtle but distinctive 

 differences of shape that mark off the many genera 

 of shells. These soft -bodied gasteropods which 

 most people imagine to be mere formless dollops 

 of slime leave behind them mementoes as enduring 

 as the skeletons of mammals, and far more plainly 

 indicative of their species. In spite of the protean 

 colour-scheme of the purple, we can tell it at 

 once from the winkle or the whelk by a difference 

 of shape that almost escapes analysis. The main 

 distinction is in the body whorl of the shell, which 

 in the purple grows smaller towards the opening. 

 While we are learning to memorize the difference 

 between the purple and the winkle, We can verify 

 our verdicts by taking the shell up and looking at 

 its under side, for the purple has a groove at the 

 forward end of the shell for the extrusion of the 

 siphon. 



The siphon is a portion of the mantle of the 

 animal folded into an extempore tube through 

 which the owner can get a deeper and more vigorous 

 draught of sea water and oxygen over the gills. 

 Generally speaking, the gasteropod that has a 

 siphon is carnivorous, while the one without is 

 vegetarian. 



Let us get a good big whelk from the fisherman's 



