THE 

 LIFE OF THE MOLLUSCA 



CHAPTER I 



GENERAL INTRODUCTORY 



SHELLS have ever been attractive objects owing 

 to the beauty of form and coloration displayed 

 by so many of them, and though they are no longer 

 fashionable objects to collect, every one in his, or her, 

 young days has listened with wonder to the supposed 

 roar of the sea in their cavities, while there are some 

 few who retain their predilection for them through- 

 out life, and make more or less extensive collections. 

 Fewer persons still, however, pay any attention to 

 the animal that formed and built the shell, for it has 

 never stood high in popular estimation ; indeed, 

 unless good to eat, it is usually an object of aver- 

 sion, and yet there is no group of the invertebrate, 

 or backboneless animals, that better repays study. 



The Mollusca (soft-bodied animals), of which the 

 Slugs and Snails, the Oysters and the Cuttlefishes, 



