246 



LIFE, IN ITS INTERMEDIATE FORMS. 



under surface of the body being dilated into a flat mus- 

 cular foot, the action of which may be observed by any 

 one who chooses to look at a snail gliding up a pane of 

 glass. This great muscular crawling disk is so charac- 

 teristic as to have given name to the Class, Gastropoda, 

 from two Greek words, signifying " belly-footed." 



A cabinet of shells is a beautiful and interesting sight; 

 the rich, varied, and delicate colours, the pearly iri- 

 descence, the elaborate patterns, the porcellaneous texture, 

 the perfect polish, the exquisite sculpture, and the grace- 

 ful forms which we see profusely displayed there, must 

 always delight the eye. No won- 

 der that the concholo^ist regards 

 his treasures, the spoils of every 

 sea and every shore, as " an as- 

 semblage of gems," and that he 

 delights to exhibit them as les de- 

 lices des yeux et de TespriL The 

 prices that have sometimes been 

 given for rare or beautiful speci- 

 mens would be considered fabu- 

 lous, were they not capable of in- 

 "Wentietrap. dubitable proof. "In 1753, at 



the sale of Commodore Lisle's shells, at Longford's, four 

 Wentletraps {Scalaria pretiosa) were sold for seventy-five 

 pounds twelve shillings, viz., — one not quite perfect for 

 sixteen guineas ; a very fine and perfect one for eighteen 

 guineas ; another for sixteen guineas ; and a fourth for 

 twenty-three pounds two shillings." 



But higher prices than these have been given. That in 

 Mr Bullock's Museum, supposed to be the largest known, 



