THE 
LIFE OF THE MOLLUSCA 
CHAPTER I 
GENERAL INTRODUCTORY 
HELLS have ever been attractive objects owing 
to the beauty of form and coloration displayed 
by so many of them, and though they are no longer 
fashionable objects to collect, every one in his, or her, 
young days has listened with wonder to the supposed 
roar of the sea in their cavities, while there are some 
few who retain their predilection for them through- 
out life, 2-1 make more or less extensive collections. 
Fewer pet ons still, however, pay any attention to 
the animal that formed and built the shell, for it has 
never stood high in popular estimation; indeed, 
unless good to eat, it is usually an object of aver- 
sion, and yet there is no group of the invertebrate, 
or backboneless animals, that better repays study. 
The Mollusca (soft-bodied animals), of which the 
Slugs and Snails, the Oysters and the Cuttlefishes, 
I 
