34 THE SEA-SHORE 



so much bigger than our English cowries, so 

 that it would not be very easy to carry them 

 about. You would have to take several sacks 

 full of cowries with you when you went to make 

 a purchase, instead of just keeping your money 

 in a purse ! 



PLATE XII 



THE CHITON (4) 



The chiton is one of the oddest of all the shell- 

 bearing molluscs; for it does not look like a 

 mollusc at all. It looks much more like a kind 

 of sea woodlouse, or a very tiny armadillo. For 

 instead of having a single shell like a whelk 

 or a periwinkle, or a double one like a cockle 

 or an oyster, it has eight shelly plates on its 

 back which overlap one another, just like the 

 tiles on the roof of a house. And if you touch 

 it, it will often roll itself up into a kind of ball, 

 just like the pill-millepedes, or "monkey-peas," 

 which are so common in our gardens. 



This creature is called the Chiton, and if you 

 want to find it you must go and look on the 

 piles at the end of a pier, or on the rocks which 

 are left bare at very low tides. There you will 

 often find it in hundreds. Generally it is ashy 

 grey in colour, but it varies a good deal in hue, 

 and you will sometimes find examples which 



