8 THE HALL OF SHELLS. 



shells. Guess I've found you some new ac- 

 quaintances. Just look at that beauty — pink 

 as a flower ! The new minister was down on 

 the beach. He said that shell was a great trav- 

 eler and had come from the tropic seas. 



" Undine, that minister knew me ! Said he 

 saw me at church. I didn't s'pose ministers 

 ever saw boys. Our other minister never did. 

 I wouldn't wonder if Dr. McLean — that's the 

 new minister's name — knew 'most as much as 

 Cousin Ellen does about the ocean and its in- 

 habitants. He showed me where to look to 

 find the mouth and stomach of a starfish ; they 

 are right handy together, I tell you ! He says 

 starfish are very fond of oysters. You wouldn't 

 s'pose they could open an oyster shell, would 

 you ? But they can ; they just put that queer 

 mouth of theirs close to the closed edge of the 

 oyster shell and inject a bitter liquid into the 

 shell ; Mr. Oyster don't like the dose and opens 

 his valves, in walks the starfish and eats ' oys- 

 ter on the half shell ' without as much as a 

 thank you ! Dr. McLean says these starfish 

 have a cousin that grows on a long stem like a 

 flower. 



" See all these rainbow colors," he con- 

 tinued, displaying a brilliant Haliotis. "Dr. 

 McLean says the animal that lived in this shell 



