194 



THE NATURE BOOK 



always be handled ^^•ith care, as the animal, 

 when angered or molested, has a habit of 

 discharging a purple staining fluid. 



LADDER-SHELL, OR WENTLE-TKAP. 



The Scaphander, or Boat-shell, is a 

 carnivorous shell-dweller that dehghts to 

 feed upon the inhabitants of the slender, 

 tubular-shaped Tooth-shells. It is rather 

 a handsome creature, with an oblong con- 

 voluted shell, and is the proud possessor 

 of a remarkable and somewhat complicated 

 shelly gizzard. It frequents sandy ground 

 from about low- water mark to a depth ot 

 fifty fathoms. 



On rock-strewn shores, seeking the 

 shelter of the overhanging rocks in the 

 pools, we ma}' find the pretty little Cowrie 

 \Cypr(ta Eiiropea), a type of a family of 

 shell-dwellers comprising some 150 species. 

 with an almost world-wide distribution, 

 which attain their greatest size and beaut\- 

 in tropical seas ; they are represented in past 

 geological formations by about 84 species. 

 The Asiatic Islanders use a Cowrie 

 (Cyprcca anmiliis) to adorn their person, 

 threading the shells so as to form ela- 

 l)orate necklets, and also use it for pur- 

 poses of barter. The Money Cowrie 

 {Cyprcea moneta) is used in barter very 

 largely by the islanders in the Pacific 

 and Eastern seas, though not to the same 

 degree as in the early days of their commer- 

 cial relationships with European traders. 



To give anything hke a detailed descrip- 



tion of all the shell-dwellers that frequent 

 our shores and tidal pools would hll half 

 a dozen portly tomes, and therefore the 

 above brief account of some of the more 

 striking or familiar forms must suffice. 

 Their wonderful deep-water-loving cousins, 

 the Octopus and Cuttlefish, I have very 

 fully described in my book on the ''Deni- 

 zens of the Deep." There are, however, 

 two most interesting molluscs, frequenters 

 of our tidal pools, which we most certainly 

 should try to find during our rambles 

 along the shore ; one of them is called the 

 Sea-Hare, and has only a rudimentar}^ 

 shell ; and the other, the pretty little 

 Doris or Sea-Lemon, has no shell at all. 



The Sea-Hare represents a transitional 

 type between the true shell-dwellers and 

 their shell-less cousins, and has quite a 

 rudimentary, oblong, translucent shell, 

 which is partly hidden in the folds of the 

 large fleshy lobes down each side of the 

 body. It is a strange-looking animal, 

 rather slug-like, with a long neck, and has 

 four tentacles upon its head, the dorsal 

 pair somewhat resembling the ears of a 

 hare. It is from these ear-like tentacles 

 that the creature has gained its popular 

 name. Formerly, the Sea-Hare, on account 

 of its grotesque shape and the purple fluid 

 which it discharges when alarmed or 



THE BOAT-SHELL WITH ITS CURIOUS SHELLY 

 GIZZARD-PLATES. 



irritated, was an object of much super- 

 stitious dread, for the fluid was believed 

 to be a deadly poison and to produce 

 indelible stains. This old-world myth is 



