New Britain herald., 1916-07-28
SHELLSAT MUSEUM
 ACCUSING INTEREST
Collection at Institute Described
 in Comprehensive Paper

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 S Each shell, each crawling insect Aolds rank important in the plan Hf Him who framed this scale of be- @ngs, holds a rank which. lost. would Break the chain, and leave behind #ap which natures self would rue In the beauty and sIngularity of #hear forms, the variety and brilliancy Nf their colOrs, shells only yield to Bowers.
 Ine admiration of these deserted Mab1tations of a very numerous class a1 animals is very general, if not Nn1Versal. Scarcely a house in the KRnd is without a few shells, and in @nany there are large collections of ahem. Comparatively few persons, 8oWever, view them in connection 8vlth animal existence, for the mass, Shey are merely beautiful things from Hhe seas and rivers, far and near. NVe care little how they grow, how Mhey live, how they breathe, upon
 Ehat they feed, or for what use they
 Eere created.
 8 Every living creature has a history Mf it's own. Each has characteristics By which it may be known fr@Sn it's Relatives. Each has it's own terri 8ory it's appropriate food, and it's %uties to perform in the economy of Sature.
 The marine shoIls, by the immense umbers in which they are produced, @erfOrm an important office in ab- @tracting from the sea water it's ex- Sess of calcareous matter, and thus Hiding to maintain it's purity. Feeding pon animal or vegetable matter, the 81ollusca act as scaVengers and in &essantly destroy an infinite variety Xf hurtful or superfuous substances. Every acre of the sea is infinitely Shore productive than the same quan- #ty of the richest land, notwith- Banding that these salt water fields Ere perpetually white to the har- Fest" The soft bodies of the Mol #lsca offer the most tempting morsels &b birds and insects on land and to #early all the inhabitants of the sea, #et, protected by their shelly covering 8hey spread into every nook and &orner of the globe, giving birth to #uch multitudes Of young, that, in 8pite of all the havoc which thins #heir ranks, they flourish in abun- #ance. Even the
 &Poor patient oyster where it sleeps &Vithin it's pearly house,"
 Although 1t is the most helpless of Ell the headless MoIlusca, would over &pread the deep-sea banks if let alone. Damon says: If the great mass of 8ll the spawn produced by the den- &ens of the ocean were not devoured &r otherwise destroyed, the watery #orld would long ago have become #D over populated as to be unnaVigable End it's condition incompatible with %nel health of the human race" S As articles of food many of the #Iollusca are most important, and the &dible species are cultivated with great #Rre in various countries, giving em- 8loyment to hundreds of people. But Me have only time to consider the @ses of shells. First let us see how @hells are formed.
 & Each shell has once been the home @f a living animal, which was born Trapped in a transparent mantle en- Bowed with the wonderful power of Extracting lime from the sea water #-hich it has taken into it's body, 8nting it with beautiful colors, and Building it up into a solid dwelling Slace and citadel combined. The &hape. color, and peculiarities of all
  8r1Iiarities of the mantle. If &nis is crumpled at the edge or #ra-wn out in horn-like folds, then 8ae shell will have a crumpled form Exc the sca1lop, or horns like the
 burex. while the sunlight falling 8pon the mantle seems to help it in 81rnning the bright pigment with Mrhich it paints it's home, so that #hallow water shells and those of the &-opies are more highly colored than &aose from the deep sea, or from dull #Iimate; then again in the inside of #he shell. if the mantle leaves #nooS11 layer this will be white, but &7ben the film is crumpled in very line &o1ds. these reflect the light in such # way as to give the beautiful colors @nown as mother-of-pearl, Whlle' II &ahe mantle be irritated at any point, "a will form a little bead of lime after M,ards to be increased into a pearl. s If the margin of a shell Is fractured a uring the lifetime of the animal, the
 niury will be completely repaired by %be reproduction both of the epider- #ais and of the outer layer of shell Hyith it's proper color.
 \ The forms and colOrs of shells Gas Mf other natural objects) answer Rome particular purpose, or obey some 8 8enera1 law.
 d The chief object of the shell is to a hield the delicate creature within, although the shell is apparently nlv the house in which the animal Elves, it is equally true that if you Burn him out-of-doors he will die.
 The relation of the shell to the
 Breathing organ is very intimate, in # eed. it may be regarded as a pneu-
 @no-skeleton, being essentially a calc1- 8ed portion of the mantle of which he breathing-organ is at most a spe- @ia1ized part. In it's most reduced
 # orm it is only a hollow cone, or &blate. protecting the breathing-organ End heart.