lANTHINA.— TRITONIA. 39 



fragile things that sails the seas. Its thin, 

 pellucid, gossamerlike shell can not bear the 

 rough handling of the waves. The snail that 

 lives in this amethystine house swims by means 

 of an air float secreted by and attached to its 

 foot. To the under side of this float the egg 

 capsules are securely fastened, and here the 

 baby lanihina is ' born to the purple.' 



" Your trumpet shell is a Tritonia, and in- 

 stead of sounding for a banquet, mythology 

 says the Tritons who lived in a golden palace 

 at the bottom of the sea often blew it at com- 

 mand of Neptune to soothe the restless waves." 



"I have read that the largest of these 

 trumpet shells are used as tea kettles by the 

 people of the Typinsan Archipelago," said Mr. 

 Bremely. " The shell has a vdre or thong at- 

 tached to each extremity, and is hung upon a 

 hook above the fire. The operculum is the lid 

 of this artistic tea kettle, while the spire serves 

 as its spout." 



" We might imagine sea gods resenting this 

 common use of their ' wreathed horn,' and 



" To the smooth, bright sand beguiled, 



raising a ' tempest in the tea kettle,' " laughed 

 Miss Bremely. 



" On the contrary," replied her uncle, " I 



