. Shells and sea-life. oast-lines. Protective organs. Can turtles turn over? Salt and. fresh >vaters. California Indians. Shell-nionnds. Let ns spare natural ob-jects. The Japanese cur-rent. ABALONES, OR SEA-EARS. 51 know that waves are no respecters of persons, andit would be no joke to lose ones footing so nearto deep water. Here we are at last, right in the very home ofthe creatures that build the finest shells to befound on our coast. They are living on the rocksall about us, and we are very glad to pay themthis friendly visit; for it is far from our purposeto disturbthese peace-ful cre
. Shells and sea-life. oast-lines. Protective organs. Can turtles turn over? Salt and. fresh >vaters. California Indians. Shell-nionnds. Let ns spare natural ob-jects. The Japanese cur-rent. ABALONES, OR SEA-EARS. 51 know that waves are no respecters of persons, andit would be no joke to lose ones footing so nearto deep water. Here we are at last, right in the very home ofthe creatures that build the finest shells to befound on our coast. They are living on the rocksall about us, and we are very glad to pay themthis friendly visit; for it is far from our purposeto disturbthese peace-ful see howtheyfare,andobserve theirpleasant sur-roundings. We noticethat they areall clinging to the surface of the rocks, and that the soft partsof the animal are well protected by the thick, low-arched shell, on one side of which is a row ofholes, which answer the same purpose as thechimney of the keyhole limpet. We notice, in the second place, that many ofthese mollusks seek for some sheltered spot,. Figure 20. 52 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. especially for a deep crack in the rocks, into whichthey may creep and feel secure from their ene-mies. Others are clinging to the under side ofan overhanging shelf of stone, or are wedged inbetween two masses of rock that are lying closetogether. We will put our hands on one of those that aremost exposed, and try to lift him up so that wemay hold him for a little while, as we would holda pet kitten. But he evidently is not anxious tobe fondled, and only clings the tighter, and ut-terly refuses to accept our well-meant cannot blame the poor fellow, for he has nomeans of knowing that we are unlike those whocome to take his life just for the sake of gettinghis pretty shell. If we insist that we must take him in ourhands, whether he is willing or not, we shall beobliged to use either stratagem or force, or per-haps both combined. So we cautiously creep upto one that has his shell raised a little, and sud-denly
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmollusk, bookyear1901
