620 ABOUT SHELLS. 
mal, deformed, and never come to perfection. Thus, being 
thin and fragile, they soon crumble and disappear. I have 
thought that I found proof or evidence that mollusks have 
power to absorb and reform the shell. From Melania and 
Paludina, which are viviparous, I used to preserve the young 
found in the process of cleaning the shells. Observing that 
they were quite blunt at the apex, and that somehow in their 
growth toward maturity they became sharp-pointed, I could 
in no other way account for this than by supposing that they _ 
absorbed the shell, and reconstructed it after a smaller pat- 
tern. I will admit, for what it is worth, the possibility of 
inaccuracy in my observations when comparing small things 
with great. Thus, a very short cone might appear blunt, 
while, if increased ‘tenfold, the bluntness would be, rela- 
tively, quite little. Yet this view does not satisfy me, and I 
still think my first impressions were correct. Will not some 
one by accurate measurements settle this question? 
On the beach to the eastward of Matanzas the habits of a 
Cyclostoma struck me as noteworthy. A hundred yards or 
more from the shore, the ridge formed of. sand and broken 
shells is overgrown with various trees and bushes, which this 
shell ascends probably to feed on some lichen. But if the 
tree leaned at any considerable angle, say twenty-five Or 
thirty degrees, no shell could be found on it. And of the 
bushes, too, it had its choice as to size, also. None seemed 
to venture up a bush, or there was no attraction for them, 
if ft were not larger than the finger or thumb. Jt may very 
well be, that on the small bushes they found nothing to eat: 
but the same reason cannot be given for their refusal to 
ascend larger leaning ones. k 
It has been said above, that in winter shells. mostly lie 
dormant, not on account of the cold, but of the dryness: 
But if, at this season, a heavy shower occurs, which is not 
very unusual, they come out of their hiding places and ap- 
pear to be feeding; not, indeed, in such numbers as dur- 
ing the summer, for already many are dead. Now, let 2 

