ce.

[Illustration: BRUSH TURKEY.]

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

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

[Illustration: 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.

[Illustration: 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.

[Illustration: 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."

[Illustration: 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.

[Illustration: OLD SHELLS. YOUNG SHELLS.

PTEROCERAS SCORPIO.]

With this he gave him four shells, two young, and two grown up ones,
which