XX THE HALL OF SHELLS. 



now consigned to animal kingdom. Have been variously 

 classified, and the old classifications abandoned or giving 

 place to those relating more particularly to structure and 

 development. 



AlgcB draw their sustenance from the water, loving 

 best the quiet seas of temperate zones, and depending 

 upon light for their coloring. Find authority for the 

 story in studies upon the ancient art of Venetian point 

 lace. 



To secure and preserve the most delicate varieties of 

 ■ seaweed, slip a paper under them while floating in the sea 

 or a dish of water, raise carefully, aiTanging any imper- 

 fect points with fine camel's-hair brush or the point of a 

 pin. Eelp must be pressed between oiled paper or pieces 

 of muslin on account of the glue it contains. A gatherer 

 of seaweeds when questioned regarding many varieties 

 replied, " Oh, nobody knows ! " Here, then, is a realm 

 waiting and luring investigation. 



Chapter X. — Argonaut and nautilus — both cephalo- 

 pods — are quite unlike in many points, yet their names 

 have been indiscriminately used. There is a similarity in 

 the form of their shells ; that of the argonaut is, however, 

 thin and [brittle, while the shell of the nautilus is thick 

 and strong. This latter is divided into chambers, hence 

 called the chambered nautilus. It is interesting to study 

 the fossil species of these shells. 



Chapter XI. — The family VeneridoB contains many 

 beauties long ago dedicated to Venus. Varieties of these 

 shells are numerous, but all more or less beautifully sculp- 

 tured and pictured. The value the aborigines attached to 

 the round clam of the Atlantic coast has been preserved 

 in its name Venus mercenaria. Clams may be studied in 

 salt and fresh waters, the number and character of the 

 teeth in their hinges observed. " The nervous system can 

 be, with care and patience, worked out in the clam or 

 fresh water mussel." 



The family Chitonidm are curiously constructed, en- 



