Page:The common shells of the sea-shore (IA commonshellsofse00wood 0).pdf/9



undefined

are many amusements for the wanderer by the sea-shore, and one of the most popular recreations is the search after Shells, whether their empty valves are picked up from the shore, or whether they are sought in a living state, so that the animal can be examined as well as the wondrous home in which it lives.

None but those who have given a little time to shell-hunting, can conceive the multitude of species which are discovered when practice has sharpened the eyes. But although it is comparatively easy to find shells, it is not so easy to identify them; and to gather together a quantity of shells which cannot be named, and about which the collector knows nothing, is an unprofitable and uninteresting task. Therefore it often happens that the once-zealous shell-hunter gradually flags in his labours, and at last ceases from them altogether, for lack of a simple and easily understood guide to the subject. This want I have endeavoured to supply, remembering my own feelings when I first began to wander about the sea-shore. Here is a little work which may be carried in the pocket, ready for immediate reference ; the crabbed scientific words have been replaced by them corresponding English synonyms; and the book is so copiously illustrated, that it is impossible to find a shell which cannot be identified by reference to the engravings.

All the shells which are commonly picked up on the beach, or can be gathered at low-water, are figured; and in case the reader may be disposed—as I trust he may be—to pursue his researches further by means of the dredge, the trawl, or the drag, figures are given of all those shells which he is sure to find, and of nearly all those which he is likely to find. In order to assist the student still further, separate figures are given of the distinguishing marks by which one group of shells is known from another; and wherever any remarkable but minute characteristics exist, whether in the shell or the animal, they are drawn on a magnified scale.

Another advantage is, that the student is taught where to find the various species that are described. If he will look at