146 JUNE. 



accused of having given it to his brother Titus. To 

 search after the Sea-hare was to render one's -self sus- 

 pected; and when Apuleius was accused of magic, 

 because, forsooth, he had induced a rich widow to marry 

 him, the principal proof against him was that he had 

 hired the fishermen to procure him this fearful animal" 1 

 He succeeded, however, in showing, to the satisfaction 

 of his judges, that his object was merely the gratifica- 

 tion of laudable scientific curiosity. 



Peering into the deep and narrow fissures with which 

 the rocky ledge is cleft, we observe some shells which 

 properly belong to the deep sea bottom, but have been 

 doubtless washed into the shallow, by some heavy 

 ground- swell, and left where we now see them. Here 

 are several fragments, and one or two nearly perfect 

 specimens, of what looks like an elephant's tusk in 

 miniature, but is really the shell of a small Gastropod 

 mollusk commonly known as the Tusk-shell. 2 In 

 colour, form, and curvature, the resemblance is complete, 

 but the length of a perfect shell rarely exceeds an inch 

 and a half, with a diameter of one- eighth of an inch 

 at the larger end. The animal is remarkable for having 

 long been a subject of dispute with learned zoologists 



1 Johnston, 



2 Dentalium entalis, represented at the right-hand corner of the fore- 

 ground in Plate XVIL 





