30 THE SEA-SHORE 



PLATE XI 

 THE CUP AND SAUCER LIMPET (4) 



This is a very curious creature indeed. But if 

 you want to see why its rather odd name was 

 given to it, you must look inside its shell instead 

 of outside. Then you will see that in the upper 

 part is a curved plate which really looks very 

 much like a tiny tea-cup, while the shell itself 

 surrounds it just like a saucer. And if you were 

 to examine the animal which lives inside it very 

 carefully, and to pull out its long tooth-ribbon, 

 you would find at the tip of it a curious little 

 organ which looks just like a tea-spoon. So that 

 we have cup, saucer, and spoon all in one ! 



Perhaps you may wonder what the odd little 

 cup is for. Well, the fact is that the muscles by 

 means of which the animal clings to the rock 

 are very strong indeed. So, of course, there must 

 be something else very strong to which they can 

 be fastened, and this cup-shaped plate gives them 

 a very firm hold. 



The cup and saucer limpet is not a very common 

 creature, and in many parts of the coast it is 

 never met with at all. But if you stay by the sea- 

 side on the south coast of England, you may 

 sometimes find its empty shell lying upon the 

 shore. 



