THE STING WINKLE 21 



such a way that they look almost like rows of 

 beads. 



These are the shells of the Dog: Whelk, and if 

 you wait until the tide is quite low, and then hunt 

 about on the weed-covered rocks close to the edge 

 of the sea, you will very likely find some of the 

 living animals crawling about. They feed upon 

 the sea-weeds by means of a curious organ called 

 the tooth-ribbon. This is just a narrow strip 

 of gristle, set with row upon row of very tiny 

 hooked teeth; and by drawing this backwards 

 and forwards over the leaves of the weeds the 

 animal scrapes off very tiny pieces, which it then 

 swallows. 



In the tooth-ribbon of one of these whelks there 

 are about a hundred rows of teeth, with about 

 nine teeth in each row: so that the animal has 

 nearly a thousand teeth altogether. But of 

 course you can only see them by means of a 

 powerful microscope. 



PLATE IX 

 THE STING WINKLE (2) 



Although this creature is called a " winkle " it is 

 really one of the whelks. It is very common, and 

 you may often find its empty shell lying upon the 

 shore. It is white, or yellowish white, in colour, 



