CHAPTER XXIV: THE MOON SHELLS AND 

 VELVET SHELLS 



Family NAXiciDyt 



Shell globular or ear-shaped, with wide aperture; foot 

 very large, prolonged in front and behind; radula large; mantle 

 often engulfing the shell. Predatory moUusks which burrow 

 in the sand for bivalves. 



Genus NATICA, Lam. (LUNATIA, Gray) 



Shell oval, globular, solid, porcellanous, smooth, with 

 transparent epidermis, umbilicated; operculum large, semi- 

 lunar; foot broad in front, furnished with an upper fold that is 

 reflected back over the head and front margin of the shell. Eggs 

 laid in collar-shaped band covered with sand. Active, carni- 

 vorous mollusks, living in temperate and warm seas. 



The Moon Shell (N. heros, Say), round and smooth as an 

 apple, is a familiar object on our east coast. The spire is flattened 

 and very small, the coils few; the last whorl, very much larger 

 than the others, ends in an ear-shaped aperture. The large 

 umbilicus extends to the apex, which is often worn off, letting 

 water pass through. The colour of these shells is ashen, streaked 

 or clouded with brown inside and out. Dead shells are soon 

 wave-worn and disintegrated; the protective epidermis goes 

 with their lost youth. The operculum is horny and spiral, the 

 nucleus near one edge. 



No adornment is to be seen upon the strong house that 

 shelters this businesslike mollusk butcher. He rolls up his sleeves, 

 so to speak, and goes after his prey in dead earnest. Put one 

 in a tank of sea water, with sand in the bottom, and before long 

 he recovers his equanimity, and unlocks his door. The amount 

 of foot he unfolds is a matter of amazement when the size of the 

 shell is taken into account. A flattened pad of flesh three times 

 as long as the shell's diameter, and half as wide as long — this is 



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