696 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



will tell you, also, tbat beds which are disturbed from time to time by the planter will suffer more 

 harm than neglected beds, especially in summer. Of course it is to be expected, as reported, that 

 where planting has gone on for many years, there these predatory mollusks have visibly increased 

 in numbers. 



In regard to ridding our beds of (his pest, I can only advise, as heretofore, that every effort 

 be made to destroy every specimen taken and every "necklace" of eggs which can be got hold of. 

 The trawl, tangles, etc., recommended for the suppression of star-fishes, in my Report to the 

 Census Bureau upon the Oyster Industries, would take up these eggs at the same time, and thus 

 do double service. Persistent fighting is the only resource against this enemy, however, as in 

 the case of others. 



Some points of minor interest may be mentioned before leaving this subject. Both of these 

 shells were used by the Indians of the coast ceremonially, and as material for the making of white 

 wampum, their money of inferior value, which consisted of bead-shaped sections of the central 

 column of the shell. From them, also, were fashioned sundry articles of service and ornament, 

 such as trowels, spoons, and dippers; they are sometimes even yet called "ladle shells." The 

 Indians ate the animals, too, when hard pressed for food, and have been followed in this practice 

 by the whites, to some extent. De Voe says they used sometimes be sent into Catharine Market, 

 New York, from Long Island, and found sale; "but," he adds, "they are not generally relished. 

 being somewhat strong flavored. They are mostly used by the poor who live near the coast." 

 Several foreign mollusks, not greatly different, are eaten generally being boiled and perhaps 

 proper cooking would make these Conchs more palatable than they have hitherto proved. 



Under the name of "Drill" is included a numerous class of univalve mollusks, which are 

 carnivorous in their tastes, and armed with a tongue-ribbon so shaped and so well supplied with 

 flinty teeth that by means of it they can file a round hole through an enemy's shell, a habit 

 which renders them of much account in the fisheries, where the victim they attack is the valuable 

 Oyster, as they are sadly prone to do. The mode in which the entrance is made has been clearly 

 described by Rev. Samuel Lockwood, as follows : 



"The tongue is set with three rows of teeth like a file; it is, in fact, a tongue-file, or dental 

 band, and is called by conchologists the lingual ribbon. . . . Having with the utmost care 

 witnessed a number of times the creature in the burglarious act, I give the following as my view 

 of the case: With its fleshy disk, called the foot, it secures by adhesion a firm hold on the upper 

 part of the Oyster's shell. The dental ribbon is next brought to a curve, and one point of this 

 curve, on its convex side, is brought to bear directly on the desired spot. At this point the teeth 

 are set perpendicularly, and the curve, resting at this point, as on a drill, is made to rotate one 

 circle, or nearly so, when the rotation is reversed; and so the movements are alternated, until, 

 after long and patient labor, a perforation is accomplished. This alternating movement, I think, 

 must act favorably on the teeth, tending to keep them sharp. To understand the precise movement, 

 let the reader crook his forefinger, and, inserting the knuckle in the palm of the opposite hand, 

 give to it, by the action of the wrist, the sort of rotation described. The hole thus effected by 

 the drill is hardly so much as a line in diameter. It is very neatly countersunk. The hole 

 finished, the little burglar inserts its siphon or sucking-tube, and thus feeds upon the occupant of 

 the house into which it has effected a forced entrance. To a mechanic's eye there is something 

 positively beautiful iu the symmetry of the bore thus effected it is so 'true'; he could not do it 

 better himself, even with his superior tools and intelligence." 



These small "Snails," "Drills," "Borers," and "Snail-bores," as they are variously called, 

 belong to several species of Natica, Purpura, Anachis, Aatyris, Tritia, Ilyanassa, etc. ; but the master 



