Charley's Museum / A Story for Young People

MORE SHELLS.

When Mr. Brown next visited the farm, he brought another pocket full of shells, for Charley's Museum. When he was by alone with Charley in the little chamber where the Museum was to be formed, he began to take them from his pocket one by one and describe them.

BULINUS. BULINUS.

"The Bulinus Haemastona," said Mr. Brown, "is very pretty, as you see. These animals live altogether on land. They feed on the tender leaves of plants and are very fond of lettuces and cabbages. Through the day they lie half asleep, and towards evening move about, especially if warm and moist, and are evidently fond of moisture. In winter they lie torpid, and in spring deposit their eggs about two inches beneath the earth's surface.

MIDAS'S EAR MIDAS'S EAR

"You have heard of King Midas, Charley. This shell is called Midas's Ear, or Auricula MidÆ."

"I remember," said Charley, "that Midas was said to have ass's ears."

HALIOTIS. HALIOTIS.

"Just so," said Mr. Brown, "all the Auriculas and Haliotises, are a little turned in form. Here is a Haliotis, or Sea Ear. The shell was at first called the Haliotis, but because it is a little twisted, and looks, as you may see, something like the ear of an animal, it is now generally named the Sea Ear. This animal has a kind of fleshy foot projecting from its body, with which it helps itself to move about. Some kinds of them are very beautiful. There are a great many shells named Sea Ear, by fishermen and sailors; and they are classed by naturalists with these two."

Mr. Brown went on taking more shells from his pocket and talking all the time.

SPINY CHITON. SPINY CHITON.

Next came a couple of handsome shells, the Spiny Chiton and the Magnificent Chiton. The word Chiton, which in Greek means "shield," indicates the general shape of this shell, which resembles a shield. "These animals are a good deal like common Limpets. Those found in our northern seas are small, but in the tropic seas they reach a large size. Their shell consists of several plates, which are arranged very regularly behind each other by complicated ligaments and muscles.

MAGNIFICENT CHITON. MAGNIFICENT CHITON.

"The Spiny Chiton is found in the south seas. It has a wide border, as you may see, furnished with long, sharp, blackish spines.

"The Magnificent Chiton grows five inches long, and is found in Chili, often in very exposed places, fixed to wave-beaten rocks. The soft part of all the Chitons, that is, you know, the animal when alive, is furnished with a sucker on the under part, by which it sticks hard to the rocks."

THORNY WOODCOCK. THORNY WOODCOCK.

Uncle Brown next gave Charley one of the most beautiful shells, that, he thought, he had ever seen. Our young readers will see whether Charley was not right, by looking at the cut of it. It is called by several different names, such as the Murex, Tenuispina, or Thin Spined Murex; The Thorny Woodcock; and Venus's Comb. It lives in the Indian Ocean, which, you know, is many thousand miles off from where we live.

OLD SHELLS.	YOUNG SHELLS.
PTEROCERAS SCORPIO.

With this he gave him four shells, two young, and two grown up ones, which are called the Pteroceras Scorpio; and three others besides, one young and two grown up ones, which go by the name of Cypraea Exanthema.

He told Charley to put all these shells together in his Museum, because, in certain particulars, they are alike, and all have, besides their own special names, the same generic name of Gasteropoda. They are so called, because they have something like a foot proceeding from the body which they use for moving about. Some of them have a distinct head, furnished with feelers, and eyes, and some means of smelling and hearing. Commonly the shell has but one valve, but sometimes more. Their shell is secreted or made out of their skin, which is called a mantle. I ought to tell you also, that all these shell-fish have another name, still more general, which is Mollusca, or Molluscs.

ADULT SHELLS.	YOUNG SHELL.
CYPRAEA EXANTHEMA.

The Scallop Charley must have read about before his uncle gave it to him, for pilgrims to the Holy Land, many hundred years ago, used to wear it, as a badge on their hats or caps. It has two valves, like the oyster, which are united by a strong and very elastic hinge. It has also a strong muscle, by which it can, as it pleases, open its valves or keep them tightly shut. It helps to move itself about by rapidly opening and closing its shell. It is found in the European seas and all along the southern coasts of England.

"Here, Charley," said uncle Brown, "is a very beautiful shell for you, called the Nautilus. The animal is very plentiful in the Mediterranean Sea. It has several arms, which, people used to think, it stretched out like the sails of a ship, and so skimmed over the water in its shell. But this is a mistake, for it covers its shell with these arms, and in fact makes the shell by a secretion from them. It pushes itself through the water by throwing water from a tube, which it has.

NAUTILUS NAUTILUS

"The shell is always elegant, but the colors of the living animal are very beautiful."

"Oh uncle," cried Charley, "what wonderful and nice things you have told me? Can I find such things in books."

"Certainly, you can," replied the uncle, "for it is there I got most of what I have told you."

"Then," said, Charley, "I mean to read all the books, telling about these things, that I can get, if father will let me, for I should like to do that better, than to be a farmer or a merchant. Do you think, uncle, father will be willing, that I should study and go to college, like our minister Edward?"

"Why my lad," replied the uncle, "your father and I can manage it, if you will be a good scholar and a well behaved boy. But remember, that in order to do this, you cannot be idle and careless and too fond of play, but you must be very industrious and study hard, for a good many years, to be a good scholar, and you must also be careful of what you do and say, and keep out of the company of mischievous and bad boys, or their example will lead you astray and make you as bad as themselves. Do you think you have resolution and perseverance enough for all these things?"

"I hope so uncle," answered Charley, "and I believe so. Certainly I'll try."

"Well, my boy, let us see you try. It will be three or four years, before you will be old enough to go to college, but you are old enough to begin to study now, in order to get ready to go. Now is the time to form regular and industrious habits of study. Just at present, you had better go on and form a pretty good Museum, and I will bring you some more birds and shells for the purpose, and some books, that will tell you much more about them than what I have."

How Charley found his Museum useful in improving his mind; and how he went to college, and became a very distinguished scholar we will relate to our young readers on some future occasion.

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