Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/66

54 and pale brown, but some of the land snails have splendid houses. One in my cabinet is in broad bands of white and brown, lined with rose color. The violet sea snail is one of the most fascinating of all the group. Great herds of these bright, purple creatures are sometimes seen on the surface of the ocean feeding upon Medusæ (jellyfish). Each carries an enormous float, from the under side of which the eggs hang down. The float is formed

by a secretion from the foot and is made up of a great many little bubbles. When storms occur the floats often become separated from the creatures to which they were attached, but the eggs develop just as well. The violet snail is never found on shore, except when cast up by violent storms, being a lover of the high seas.

The largest littoral (shore-inhabiting) univalve on the Massachusetts coast is a common globular snail (Natica heros). It lives on clams and other bivalves, and is interesting on account of its curious egg masses, known to the children who gather them on the beaches as "sand-saucers."

The olive shells are so called from their resemblance to that fruit. They are all pretty, being curiously marked with different shades of brown, but the most striking of the family is the East Indian harp shell, which is very beautiful, with its longitudinal ribs, representing the strings of the harp. The animal which lives in it is exceedingly shy, and if it is captured it draws itself into the shell as far as possible. The whole of the foot will not go in, however, and this is quickly drawn across the sharp edge of the aperture and cut off. If the animal is set free again in its native element it will redevelop its foot.

The miter shells are varied and brilliant in coloring. Some of mine are white with orange spots, others brown and purple, and all showy. They are named from their resemblance to the