tles are generally caught in two ways, by nets, and by what is called pegging. The peg is of iron, and something larger than a ten-penny nail, and without a barb; to this is affixed an iron socket, in which is inserted a long pole, and the peg is held by a tolerably strong line. When the Turtle is struck, the hunter disengages the pole, and draws the Turtle to the boat by the line. They are also caught by turning them on their back while they are asleep.

There is yet another way which, though seemingly awkward, is said to be attended with very great success. A good diver places himself at the head of the boat; and when the Turtles are observed, which they sometimes are in great numbers, asleep on the surface, he immediately quits the vessel at about fifty yards distance, and, keeping still under water, directs his passage to where the Turtle was seen, and, coming up beneath, seizes it by the hind

fin; the animal, awaking, struggles to get free; and by this both are kept at the surface until the boat arrives to

take them in. The natives of the islands in the Pacific Ocean often catch these animals by swimming into the water, and turning them on their backs; they then tow them ashore.

The shell of TESTACEOUS FISHES may be considered as a habitation supplied by nature. It is a hard stony substance, made by some in the manner of a wall. Part of the stony substance the animal derives from outward objects, and the fluids of the animal itself furnish the cement. These united make that firm covering which shell fish generally reside in till they die.

But, in order to give a more exact idea of the manner in which sea-shells are formed, we must have recourse to an animal that lives upon land, with the formation of whose shell we are best acquainted. This is the garden snail, that carries its box upon its back.

To begin with the animal in its earliest state, and trace the progress of its shell from the time it first appears— The instant the young snail leaves the egg, it carries its shell or its box on its back. It does not leave the egg till it is arrived at a certain growth, when its little habitation is sufficiently hardened. This beginning of the shell is not much bigger than a pin's head, but grows in a very rapid manner, having at first but two circumvolutions, for the rest are added as the snail grows larger. In proportion as the animal increases in size, the circumvolutions of the shell increase also, until the number of those volutes come to be five, which is never exceeded.

The part where the animal enlarges its shell is at the mouth, to which it adds in proportion as it finds itself stinted in its habitation below. Being about to enlarge its shell, it is seen with its little teeth biting and clearing away the scaly skin that grows at the edges. It is sometimes seen to eat those bits it thus takes off; and at other

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times it only cleans away the margin when covered with films, and then adds another rim to its shell.

For the purposes of making the shell, which is natural to the animal, and without which it would not live three days, its whole body is furnished with glands, from the orifices of which flows out a kind of slimy fluid, like small spiders' threads, which join together in one common crust or surface, and in time condense and acquire a stony hardness. It is this slimy humor that grows into a membrane, and afterwards a stony skin, nor can it have escaped any who has observed the track of a snail; that glistening substance which it leaves on the floor or the wall is no other than the materials with which the animal adds to its shell, or repairs it when broken.

With respect to the figure of shells, Aristotle has divided them into three kinds; and his method is, above all others, the most conformable to nature. These are, first, the Univalve or Turbinated, which consist of one piece, like the box of a snail; secondly, the Bivalve, consisting of two pieces united by a hinge, like an oyster; and, thirdly, the Multivalve, consisting of more than two pieces, as the acorn-shell, which has not less than twelve pieces that go to its composition. All these kinds are found in the sea at different depths, and are valuable in proportion to their scarceness or beauty. All shells are formed of an animal or calcareous earth, that ferments with vinegar and other acids, and that burns into lime, and will not easily melt into glass.

Every shell, wherever it is found, is the spoil of some animal that once found shelter therein. It matters not by what unaccountable means they may have wandered from the sea; but they exhibit all and the most certain marks of their origin. From their numbers and situation, we are led to conjecture, that the sea reached the places where

they are found; and from their varieties we learn how little we know of all the sea contains at present; as the earth furnishes many kinds which our most exact and industrious shell collectors have not been able to fish up from the deep.

UNIVALVE OR TURBINATED SHELL FISH. To conceive the manner in which these animals subsist that are hid from us at the bottom of the deep, we must again have recourse to one of a similar nature and formation, that we know, viz. the GARDEN SNAIL. It is furnished

with the organs of life in a manner almost as complete as the largest animal; with a tongue, brain, salival ducts, glands, nerves, stomach and intestines, liver, heart, and blood-vessels: besides these, it has a purple bag that furnishes a red matter to different parts of the body, together with strong muscles that hold it to the shell, and which are hardened, like tendons, at their insertion.

But these it possesses in common with other animals. We must now see what it has peculiar to itself. The first striking peculiarity is, that the animal has got its eyes on the points of its largest horns. When the snail is in motion, four horns are distinctly seen; but the two uppermost and longest deserve peculiar consideration, both on account of the various motions with which they are endued, as well as their having their eyes fixed at the extreme ends of them. The eyes the animal can direct to different

objects at pleasure, by a regular motion out of the body; and sometimes it hides them, by a very swift contraction into the belly. Under the small horns is the animal's mouth; and though it may appear too soft a substance to be furnished with teeth, yet it has not less than eight of them, with which it devours leaves, and other substances, seemingly harder than itself; and with which it sometimes bites off pieces of its own shell.

At the expiration of eighteen days after coupling, the snails produce their eggs, and hide them in the earth with the greatest solicitude and industry. These eggs are in great numbers, round, white, and covered with a soft shell: they are also stuck to each other by an imperceptible slime; like a bunch of grapes, of about the size of a small pea.

The snail is possessed not only of a power of retreating, into its shell, but of mending it when broken. Sometimes these animals are crushed seemingly to pieces; and to all appearance utterly destroyed; yet still they set themselves to work, and, in a few days, mend all their numerous breaches. The same substance by which the shell is originally made, goes to the re-establishment of the ruined habitation.

As the Snail is furnished with all the organs of life and sensation, it is not wonderful to see it very voracious. It chiefly subsists upon the leaves of plants and trees; but is very delicate in its choice. At the approach of winter, it buries itself in the earth, or retires to some hole to continue in a torpid state, during the severity of the season. It is sometimes seen alone; but more frequently in compa-. pany in its retreat; several being usually found together apparently deprived of life and sensation. For the purpose of continuing in greater warmth and security, the snail forms a cover or lid to the mouth of its shell with its slime, which stops it up entirely, and thus protects it from