THE LIFE OF THE SEA-SHORE 



By F. MARTIN DUNCAN, F.R.P.S. 



Illustrated with Photographs by the Author 



THE SHELL-DWELLERS 



" Sec what a lovely shell, 

 Small and fine as a pearl, 



* * » * 



Frail, but of force to withstand, 

 Year upon year, the shock 

 Of cataract seas that snap 

 The three-decker's oaken spine 

 Athwart the ledges of rock." 



TICXXYSOX'S exquisite lines are 

 vividly recalled to us as we 

 stoop to pick up a frail, daintily 

 shaped and tinted shell cast up at 

 our feet by an incoming wave. So 

 fragile, and yet so wonderfully built 

 that it can withstand the rough tumbhng 

 of the surf. The shell - dwellers form 

 a very important 

 portion of the life 

 of the sea-shore ; 

 and whether we 

 only examine the 

 beautiful shell- 

 dwellings, or watch 

 them when at- 

 tached to the 

 curious inhabitants 

 r e sp o n s ible for 

 thsir construction, 

 they are of the 

 greatest interest 

 and beauty. As 

 we look through 

 drawer after draw- 

 er of a collection ol 

 shells, though their 

 beauty of form and 

 colour arrests our 



attention and calls forth (jur admira- 

 tion, we can learn but little of the why 

 and wherefore of those varied shapes, or 

 of the animals of which they once formed 

 a {)art. If we are true lovers of Nature, 

 the sight of these shells sets us longing to 

 be down on the sea-shore, wandering over 

 the golden sands, and peering into the 

 depths of the rock pools, striving to find 



I1II-: l');CTAN, OK SCAI.l.OI 



out what the creatures that form these 

 wonderful dwellings are like. 



" Did he stand at the diamond door 

 Of his hou.se in a rainbow frill ? 

 Did he push, when he was uncurl'd, 

 A golden foot or a fairy horn 

 Thro' his dim Water-world ? " 



All round our coasts the shell- 

 d\\'ellers abound, 

 so that when on a 

 ^■isit to the sea- 

 shore, one cannot 

 fail to meet with 

 specimens. Some, 

 like the Oj'sters 

 and Mussels, lead 

 a sedentary life, 

 while others lead 

 a more or less 

 active existence, 

 crawling over the 

 rocks and weeds, 

 or bvuTowing in 

 the sand. One of 

 the largest of oiu" 

 shell-dwellers, al- 

 though not strictly 

 belonging to the 

 sea -shore, but 

 rather to the region beyond low-tide mark, 

 is the Common Scalloj), or Pectan. Its shell, 

 however, is a very familiar sea-shore object, 

 cast up by the waves after a storm, and 

 frequently having u]')on its uj)i)er stu'face 

 a luxuriant growth of (iarland Polypes, 

 Moss-animals, etc. The shell of tlie 

 Scallop is composed of two ])arts, or \-alves, 

 quite dissimilar to each other in ajtpear- 



190 



