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of Mr, Robert of Lyme Regis, England, is foncl of home, or at least possesses a knowledge of 
topography, and returns to the same roost after an excursion with each tide. Professor Forbes 
has immortalized the sagacity of the razor-fish, who submits to be salted in his hole rather than 
expose himself to be caught, after finding that the enemy is lying in wait for him. 
We have spoken of shell-fish as articles of food, but they have other uses, even to man ; they 
arc the toys of children, who hear in them the roaring of the sea; they are the pride of collec- 
tors, whose wealth is in a cone or wentle-trap and tliey are the ornaments of barbarous tribes. 
The Friendly Islander wears the orange-cowry as a mark of chieftainship, and the New Zealander 
polishes the elcnchus into an ornament more brilliant than the pearl ear-drop of classical or 
modern times. One of the most beautiful substances in nature is the shell-opal, formed of the 
* Formerly, the study of shells, called Concliology, was a very fashionable pursuit. At that period enormous 
prices were paid for some particular shells. A Carinaria shell once brought five hundred dollars ; it is now worth 
twenty cents. In 1701 a weutle-trap sold for two hundred dollars; in 1703, for one hundred dollars ; it may now be 
had for one dollar. The prices of other shells have varied in a similar manner. Conchology, taking cognizance 
only of the shells, and not of the inhabitants that produced them and lived in them, was not a scientitic study any 
more than that of collecting old Chinaware. It is the substitution of scientific zoology for mere shell-fancying, 
together with the frequency of remote voyages, which has made shells more common, and has wrought such a 
change in the valne of these articles. Many of them, however, are intrinsically beautiful, and will always be objects 
of interest and value. 
