Talcing and Preserving Shells. 23 



of sea-weed, they are likely to be preserved from 

 injury; and such heaps of uprooted marine vege- 

 tation will often afford a rich harvest to the young 

 conchologist, who should always carefully examine 

 them. Many of the shells are so minute as scarcely 

 to be seen with the naked eye, therefore this search 

 can scarcely be properly effected without the assist- 

 ance of . a pocket lens, the cost of which is but 

 trifling. The undersides of pieces of stranded 

 timber, the bottoms of boats lately returned from 

 a fishing voyage, the fisherman's dredge or net, 

 the cable, and the deep-sea line; all these may 

 prove productive, and should be looked to when- 

 ever opportunity offers ; nor should the search for 

 land and fresh-water shells be neglected, for many 

 of these are very curious, as well as beautiful, and 

 no conchological collection is complete without 

 them. For these, the best hunting-grounds are 

 the ditch side and the river bed, the mossy bank 

 and the hedge-row ; amid the twining, serpent- 

 like roots of the old thorn and elder trees; the 

 crevices of the garden wall, the undersides of 

 stones, and all sorts of out-of-the-way holes, nooks, 

 and corners, where may be found the Striped 

 Zebra, and other prettily-marked snail shells, and 

 many other kinds worthy of a place in — » 



