440 THE ANBIAL LIFE OF THE GROUP. 



various families here grouped as being too small to be illustrated or to receive 

 notice in a book of this character. 



The tiny fresh-water clams ^^ are represented, so far as known, by a very 

 minutes species ^^ and a still smaller form •■- on Oahu, ^lolokai, Kauai, and 

 perhaps other islands of the group. Both of these forms are very small, the 

 larger being less than two-tenths of an inch in diameter. 



Earthworms. 



The worms of the islands have never been exhaustively studied. A dozen 

 species of earthworms •'•"' representing three genera are enumerated by Dr. F. E. 

 Beddard, who examined and reported on the material collected by Dr. Per- 

 kins. The species occurring in cultivated grounds appear to have been trans- 

 ferred to the islands by man. The leeches ^^ have not been studied. Two 

 species are quite common in the streams of Oahu, and there are doubtless 

 other species on the different islands. But in general the fresh-water streams 

 of Hawaii have received but little attention from zoologists, doubtless owing 

 to the fact that they are known to be very sparingly inhabited by animals of 

 any considerable size, save a few fish and fresh-water shrimp. Of recent 

 years, however, frogs, tadpoles, moscpiito fish aiul dragon-fly larva^ have added 

 a welcome touch of life to the streams. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

 SHELLS FROM THE SEA-SHORE: PART ONE. 



Pleasure or Collecting Shells. 



A ramble by the sea-shore usually results in gathering shells, seaweed, 

 fragments of coral jind such odd remnants of life as are cast up by the waves, 

 and it is from the desire to know more of the natural history of such objects 

 that many a person has been led into the systematic study of the life of the 

 sea and thereby become a life-long student of nature. To one with a taste 

 foi" such pursuits, the sea-shore of the Hawaiian Islands furnishes a never- 

 failing and ever-changing lure. "Winter or summer, day or night, one may 

 wander up and down the beach or wade in the shallow water for miles, know- 

 ing that he can never grow too old nor become too full of knowledge to enjoy 

 nature's open school by the sea-shore. 



The class of objects most liable to attract the novice are the dead shells 

 sti-ewn here and there along the sandy beach. Little by little one comes to 

 realize that there are nmny different kinds of shells, and that realization 

 usually is the starting point of the collection of shells, for one soon appre- 

 ciates the necessity of specimens for comparison; and the pleasure of adding 

 littk by little to the storehouse of one's treasures by one's own efforts is a 

 pleasure that has in it all of tlic joys of discovery, knowledge and possession. 



^"Cyrenidw. ^^ SiilKiriinii sp. ^- Pisidiuiit. ^^ Terrirahr. ^* II inidimn. 



