124 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



K a Eazor Shell should be required for any ordinary purpose, 

 such as baiting fishing-hooks, it can easily be procured by push- 

 ing into the hole an iron rod turned up at the end, and twisting 

 the Solen out of its burrow. If, however, a perfect specimen of 

 the animal or shell be' required for scientific purposes, it can be 

 obtained by the simple process of dropping a spoonful of salt 

 down the hole. The Solen has a strange hatred of salt, and as 

 soon as the obnoxious substance is felt, up comes the Eazor Shell 

 in a hurry, thrusting itself out of the hole, and enabling the opera- 

 tor to seize it before it can again withdraw to its shelter. 



The curious group of mollusks called Gastrochasnidge deserve 

 a passing notice. All the species of this family are burrowers, 

 and some of them are capable of making their way through sub- 

 stances of considerable hardness. A common British species, the 

 Flask Shell {Gasirochcena modiolina), is notable for its habit of 

 burrowing through various shells, those of the oyster being often 

 perforated and fixed to the creature by some natural cement. In 

 such cases, the animal constructs a flask-shaped case from any 

 loose materials that are within r6ach, and has by this means 

 earned its specific name of modiolina. 



In two remarkable genera the shell is very small, an'd is ce- 

 mented to the base of a long shelly tube, through which the si- 

 phon runs. The Clavagella is remarkable for the successive frills 

 that decorate the tube ; from three to six of these curious appen- 

 dages being seen in various specimens. These frills are formed 

 by the orifice of the siphon when the tube is elongated. It is a 

 remarkable fact, that the left valve of the shell is always cement- 

 ed to the side of the burrow, so that the animal possesses no loco- 

 motive power, and in all cases the shell is very small, and some- 

 times scarcely visible. 



The "Watering-pot Shell {Aspergillum) is well known to 

 conchologists. In this creature the shell is exceedingly small, 

 and so deeply sunk into the tube that only the limbo of each 

 valve is visible. The base of the tube is expanded into a round- 

 ed and perforated disk, which bears a remarkable resemblance to 

 the " rose" of a watering-pot, and its opposite extremity is mostly 

 decorated with frills, from one to eight in number. 



The reader will remember that the wood-boring pholas always 

 makes its burrow across the grain of the timber which it is com- 



