Preface 



In the first place I learned the difficult art of doing nothing, 

 by which alone one can get on in studying the life of the seashore. 

 For a long and leisurely summer cruise on the Gulf coast of 

 Florida I have to thank the hospitable skipper of the houseboat 

 Irene, Mr. A. W. Dimock, who judged shell study the proper foil 

 for the more active pursuit of playing the leaping tarpon before 

 a camera. Through his inspired suggestion and invitation, this 

 book became a possibility. On the sub-tropical beaches of unin- 

 habited islands time stood still, and a vast Floridian leisure pos- 

 sessed my soul. Beyond fishing, when the sun and tide were right, 

 no more exacting demands were made upon me than to answer the 

 dinner horn and to go into the water when it rained. On those 

 tide-washed shores I found at home the bright-hued creatures 

 I had met before only in books — the most varied and most 

 beautiful assemblage of shells to be found on any beach belong- 

 ing to the United States. 



The sober-coloured east coast shells I have studied on rocky 

 and sandy shores from Old Point Comfort to Casco Bay. My 

 teachers have been children and sages — clam-diggers of Cape 

 Cod, grizzled old oystermen of Long Island, men of science and 

 veteran collectors of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods 

 Holl, Mass. The hospitality of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Overton, of 

 Patchogue, L. I., made most pleasant and profitable my study 

 of the oyster industry of Great South Bay. Dr. and Mrs. Henry 

 M. Dean showed me similar kindness when I, a stranger, went to 

 see the making of pearl buttons from the shells of river clams in 

 the factories at Muscatine, Iowa. 



On the Pacific coast Professor Josiah Keep and the group 

 of conchologists that centres at Los Angeles, showed me many 

 kindnesses. My greatest debt is to Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Oldroyd, 

 of Long Beach, well known to conchologists and collectors. Be- 

 sides giving me access to their unexcelled collection of west coast 

 shells,they spent much time with me on the rich collecting grounds 

 they know so well in the neighbourhood of San Pedro Bay. The 

 Los Angeles Public Library bought a complete set of the rare and 

 costly "Conchologia Iconica," by Reeve (in twenty quarto volumes, 

 illustrated by 2,600 plates coloured by hand) in order that work 

 on the book might progress during my winter in Southern Cal- 

 ifornia. For this unusual favour I thank Mr. C. J. Lummis, 

 librarian, and Dr. C. J. K. Jones, director of study and research. 



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