634 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
In such mud flats only, are they met with in a detached state, 
being struck off their primary resting-place by the force of 
the waves, or the decay of the branch to which they cling, 
when the mass of shells becomes too heavy for it. 
Further south a small oyster is found which closely resem- 
bles the 0. Edulis of England, and a large kind of mud oyster, 
which is far inferior to the others, being coarser and ill- 
flavored. The smaller oyster, which has the widest range, 
is little if at all inferior to the much-esteemed Natives of the 
old country. 
The Cardium, Huawai Pijpi, a cockle two or three times 
as large as its English namesake, is much used by the 
natives, nor will it be less so by the Europeans. Black 
pearls are not unfrequently found in it, and some as large as 
ordinary garden peas. 
Of the Fam. Terubratulidce there are four known varieties, 
two large and two small kinds ; two are striated, three are 
bright red, and one found in the south is black. These 
singular shells are more abundant in a fossil than in a living 
state, although bunches of nearly a dozen adhering to one 
another may be detached from the rock. 
The land shells of New Zealand are by no means deficient 
in beauty or variety, although they are rarely to be met with, 
except the very minute kinds. 
The B-ulimus Hongii holds the chief place ; it is more than 
three inches long, of a dark chocolate color externally, and 
of a rich orange red internally. The range of this shell is 
very limited, being only from the North Cape to the Bay of 
Islands, but in reality this is to be regarded as merely the 
termination of its range, its true habitat being further north 
in the tropics, it is most abundant in the Three Kings, and 
is also found in New Caledonia, and as far north as the 
Philippine Islands, where it is known as the Bulimus Fulge- 
tans. The female shell is white in the inside, its usual locality 
is at the roots of flax plants ; the natives eat them. Those 
from the Three Kings have the outer lip thickened, and the 
shell altogether stronger formed. 
Helix Busbyi, pupu rangi , is a fine large shell two-and- 
