1908. PUBLISHERS: COLLINS BROS. & CO., LIMITED, AUCKLAND....

Often have I heard my young friends regret the great difficulty experienced in identifying the things of beauty found on our coast; and some time back it occurred to me that the time had arrived when an attempt should be made to remedy this. New Zealand is a maritime country, most of its inhabitants living near the sea, and there are few indeed who do not enjoy occasionally the pleasure of wandering along the seashore, gathering shells, seaweed, echini, and the numerous other relics of the deep.

Before the study of shellfish, or molluscs, was conducted on the scientific principles of the present day, shells were classified as univalves, bivalves, and multivalves. The univalves were shells in one piece, such as the whelk; the bivalves those in two pieces, such as the mussel or oyster; and the multivalves those in more than two pieces, such as barnacles or chitons, barnacles, however, being no longer classed with shells. The highest of the five types, or natural divisions, of animals are

Shells are described as live and dead shells. Live shells are those found with the animal enclosed, and are more likely to be perfect in form and colour than dead shells. Dead shells found amongst rocks are nearly always battered and worn, and useless from the collector's point of view. Live shells are found below high water mark, among rocks, or in the sand, or amongst seaweed and marine grasses. Wait till a storm from the sea is ended, and then, if the wind is blowing from the land, a rich har

Amongst the best known shells in any part of the world the Nautilus takes a leading position. Named Argonauta by scientific men, after the Argonautae, or sailors of the Argo, it has been the subject of many legends from the earliest times. Aristotle describes it as floating on the surface of the sea in fine weather, and holding out its sail-shaped arms to the breeze. This is now known to be incorrect, as the use it makes of these arms is to help it in swimming through the water. New Zealand's sp