SAND DUNES AND SALT MAESHES 



for that is the translation of its Latin name. 

 Nearly all these shells are bored, and there is 

 reason to believe that they are the Yietims of 

 their own brothers and sisters, for like the son 

 of Oedipus, the tyrant snail, they are provided 

 with lingual ribbons, fierce appetites and loose 

 morals. 



It is a relief to turn to a vegetarian mollusk, 

 and one which has a common English name. 

 I refer to the periwinkle, — the same that 

 Leech's delectable Tom Noddy enjoyed eat- 

 ing with a pin on the top of a London bus. 

 Indeed, the great ugly, dingy gray European 

 periwinkle now swarms along our coast, and 

 is crowding out the smaller, brighter-colored 

 and more delicate native species. It is the 

 English sparrow among moUusks. 



Another univalve which is common to both 

 sides of the northern Atlantic is the " pur- 

 ple " snail, whose shell is white or yellow or 

 brown, plain or banded. If one has ever 

 broken this little mollusk, and used it for bait, 

 he will remember how deeply crimson stained 

 became his fingers. In former times red must 

 have been called purple, as witness the purple 

 finch, which is red, and the old Tyrian purple, 

 which was crimson, and was indeed obtained 



266 



