The Shell-builders. 



when the animal is alive. The little Cowrie which is 

 found on our English shores, the Cyprcea Europcea, 

 though small of size and minus the vivid colours of 

 its tropical relations, is nevertheless a dainty, interest- 

 ing little shell. It is marked all over with fine trans- 

 verse ridges and alternate furrows, the ridges being of 

 pure white, the furrows purplish or flesh colour, while 

 larger specimens often display three dark-brown spots. 



To quote from Gosse's delightful description : 

 " Probably few are aware how very elegant a creature 

 it is when tenanted by its living inhabitant and crawl- 

 ing at ease in clear water. The foot, on which it glides 

 with a slow but smooth motion over the surface of the 

 rock on which it habitually dwells, is a broad expan- 

 sion spreading out to twice the superficies of the base 

 of the shell. Above this is the fleshy mantle, which is 

 so turned up as to closely invest the shell, conforming 

 to its shape, and even fitting into the grooves between 

 the ridges. This mantle can be protruded, at the will 

 of the animal, so far that the two sides meet along the 

 top of the shell and completely cover it, or can be 

 completely retracted within the wrinkled lips beneath ; 

 and it is capable of all gradations of extension between 

 these limits. From the front of the shell protrudes the 

 head, armed with two straight and lengthened tentacles, 

 answering in function and appearance to the upper part 

 of the horns of the snail, except that the little black 

 points which constitute the visual organs are not in 

 this case placed at the tips, but on a little prominence 

 on the outside of the base of each tentacle. Above and 

 between these, which diverge at a considerable angle, 

 projects the proboscis, a rather thick, fleshy tube, formed 



