150 THE HALL OF SHELLS. 



There is another species which excels as a 

 swimmer. Expanding quickly the lobes of its 

 foot, it strikes the water suddenly with these 

 and darts swiftly away in sportive fashion 

 through the waves, or speeds at will from one 

 sandy shoal to another. 



Belonging to a subfamily of the Olividse 

 we find the harp shell, to which Miss Bremely 

 referred as fitting to furnish the accompani- 

 ments to sea songs, which she fancied to be en- 

 graven upon the pretty olives. These harp 

 shells are in truth beautiful enough to be sug- 

 gestive of conceptions of harmony, of music, 

 and of delight to sea nymphs and " ocean 

 swells." The shells are prominently ribbed, and 

 decorated with well-defined dark lines of inter- 

 costal painting. Most of them are highly col- 

 ored, banded, and festooned in the richest man- 

 ner. Harpa ventricosa and Harpa a/rticularis 

 are among the most beautiful. 



Unlike some other beauties the Harpinee 

 all appear to delight in their large feet. So 

 large are they in fact that their possessors are 

 unable to accommodate them to their shells ; 

 so after the fashion of Cinderella's wicked sis- 

 ters, who " would not need to walk when they 

 were queens," they are said to detach a portion 

 of the foot in emergencies. 



