THE ANIMAL LIFE OF OUR SEASHORE. 



THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 



Although it can scarcely be said that the New- 

 Jersey shores constitute favorite haunts of the 

 molluscous animals, yet interesting forms of one 

 kind or another can at almost all times be found. 

 Apart from the commoner species that are habitu- 

 ally met with on the sands, the ' harvester of the 

 seas' who follows in the track of recent high- 

 water, or gleans the product of a stiff south-easter, 

 is almost sure to meet at this time with some of 

 the rarer specimens, which are generally strangers 

 to the visitors to the shores. Among these may 

 possibly be a cuttle-fish, whose body has been hap- 

 lessly cast upon the sands, and left by the retreat- 

 ing waters as a food-offering to the gulls and other 

 sea-birds that frequent the region. 



The cuttle-fishes of the New Jersey coast are not 

 numerous, and they are rarely met with along 

 the sands, except under the special circumstances 

 that have just been indicated. In the deeper and 

 quieter waters of the nuiiierous inlets, especially 

 around the mouths of outflowing streams, where 

 the chances of stranding are less imminent, they 

 are not exactly uncommon, and' have even been 

 scooped up by means of the landing-net. The 



