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CHAPTER IV. 
DESCRIPTION OF ABALONES, LIMPETS AND CHITONS 
T HE largest and most beautiful of our native 
shells next claim our attention. In the East, 
they are commonly called u California Shells/’ 
and are much used as decorations for mantel 
shelves, and bookcases. Our earliest recollection 
of them carries us back to the parlor of a par- 
sonage in New England, where, after the quar- 
terly u children’s meeting,” the great shell was 
passed around, and in it we deposited our big 
copper cents, which went to help establish 
schools for heathen children. Full well did we 
admire its rich, pearly lustre, and wonder at the 
row of mysterious holes which perforated its side. 
Such hallowed memories cling around the shell 
illustrated in Fig. 2, PI. IX. Here in California, 
where they are so common, w T e are apt to lose 
some of the idea of their exceeding beauty, but 
in truth, they are crystallized rainbows, rich in 
all the tints of the spectrum. 
In a commercial point of view, these shells are 
becoming of more and more value, vast quanti- 
ties of them being worked into buttons, jewelry, 
inlaid and ornamental work. 
