How Animals Work. 



meet the requirements of its original owner and builder : 

 for every shell on the seashore and in the rock pools 

 has been formed, tinted, and moulded into shape by 

 its original inhabitant. 



Considered from this point of view, I think you 

 will agree with me, every shell has quite a new and 

 increased interest. It is no longer merely a pretty 

 object, but a wonderful piece of constructional work, 

 beautiful in its colour and design. One at once feels 

 anxious to know more about it, and to try to find out 

 something of the creature that formed and dwelt in it. 



" Did he stand at the diamond door 

 Of his house in a rainbow frill ? 

 Did he push, when he was uncurled, 

 A golden foot or a fairy horn 



Thro' his dim water-world ? " 

 \ 



The creatures that form these exquisite dwellings 

 all belong to that great division of the animal kingdom 

 called the Mollusca t and really they are a very remark- 

 able assemblage, varying to an .extraordinary degree in 

 shape, size, colour, and habits of life. Some are only 

 to be found on land, others are restricted to the ponds, 

 lakes, and rivers, while a very large proportion are 

 dwellers in old Neptune's kingdom. Nor do they all 

 form a portable house or shelter, for in some species 

 the shell may be hidden from view, may be of a very 

 rudimentary character, or entirely absent. Some, again, 

 not only construct a portable dwelling, but are expert 

 masons, boring into the rocks, and making regular bur- 

 rows wherein to dwell ; or, as in the case of the Lima, 

 shortly to be described, construct a receptacle composed 

 of fragments of gravel and coral. 



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