Provision being thus made for the comfortable accommodation of your
treasures, the next consideration is, how to set about collecting
them. Mollusca are to be found all over the globe, from the frozen
north to the sun-baked tropics, on the land or in lakes, rivers, or
seas--wherever, in fact, they can find the food and other conditions
suitable for their growth and development; but the collector who is
not also a great traveller, must of course rely for his foreign
specimens upon the generosity of friends, or else procure them from
dealers. In most districts of our own country, there are, however, to
be found large numbers of shells whose variety and beauty will
astonish and reward the efforts of any patient seeker. Begin with your
own garden,--search in the out-of-the-way, and especially damp,
corners; turn over the flower-pots and stones which have lain longest
in one place, search amongst the roots of the grass growing under
walls, and in the moss round the roots of the trees, and you will be
surprised at the number of different shells you may find in a very
short space of time. When the resources of the garden have been
exhausted, go into the nearest lanes and again search the grass and at
the roots of plants, especially the nettles which grow beside ditches
and in damp places; hunt amongst the dead leaves in plantations, and
literally leave no stone unturned. All the apparatus it is necessary
to take on these excursions consists of a few small match or
pill-boxes in which to carry home the specimens; a pair of forceps to
pick up the smaller ones, or to get them out of cracks; a hooked stick
to beat down and pull away the nettles; and, above all, sharp eyes
trained to powers of observation. The best time to go out, is just
after a warm shower, when all the grass and leaves are still wet, for
the land-snails are very fond of moisture, and the shower entices them
out of their lurking-places. Where the ground is made of chalk or
limestone, they will be found most abundant; for as the snail's shell
is composed of layers of animal tissue, strengthened by depositions of
calcareous earthy-matter which the creature gets from the plants on
which it feeds, and these in their turn obtain from the soil--it
naturally follows that the snail prefers to dwell where that article
is most abundant, as an hour's hunt on any chalk-down will soon show.
When garden and lanes are both exhausted, you may then turn to the
ponds and streams in the neighbourhood, where you will find several
new kinds. Some will be crawling up the rushes near the margin of the
water, others will be found in the water near the bank, while others
may be obtained by pulling on shore pieces of wood and branches that
may be floating in the water; but the best are sure to be beyond the
reach of arm or stick, and it will be necessary to employ a net, which
may be easily made by bending a piece of wire into a circle of about
four inches in diameter, and sewing to it a small gauze bag; it may be
mounted either on a long bamboo, or, better still, on one of those
ingenious Japanese walking-stick fishing-rods. For heavier work,
however, such as getting fresh-water mussels and other mollusca from
the bottom, you will require a net something like the accompanying
figure (Fig. 2), about one foot in diameter. This, when attached to a
long rope, may be thrown out some distance and dragged through the
water-weeds to the shore, or if made with a square instead of a
circular mouth, it may be so weighted that it will sink to the bottom,
and be used as a dredge for catching the mussels which live
half-buried in the mud. To carry the water-snails home, you will find
it necessary to have tin boxes (empty mustard-tins are the best), as
match-boxes come to pieces when wetted.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Net for taking water-snails.]
The finest collections of shells, however, are to be made at the
sea-side, for the marine mollusca are both more varied in kind and
more abundant than the land and fresh-water ones, and quite an
extensive collection may be made in the course of an afternoon's
ramble along the shore; it is necessary, however, to carefully reject
such specimens as are worn by having been rolled by the waves upon the
beach, as they are not of any great value in a collection; it is
better, in fact, if possible, to go down to the rocks at low water and
collect the living specimens. Search well about and under the
sea-weeds, and in the rock-pools, and, when boating, throw your
dredge-net out and tow it behind, hauling it in occasionally to see
what you have caught, and to empty the stones and rubbish out.
At low tide also, look out for rocks with a number of round holes in
them, all close together, for in these holes the Pholas (Fig. 22)
dwells, having bored a burrow in the solid rock, though _how_ he does
it we do not yet quite know.
The Razor-shells and Cockles live in the sand, their presence being
indicated by a small round hole; but they bury themselves so fast that
you will find it difficult to get at them. Some good specimens, too,
of the deeper water forms are sure to be found near the spots where
fishermen drag their boats ashore, as they are often thrown away in
clearing out the nets; moreover, if you can make friends with any of
the said fishermen, they will be able to find and bring you many nice
specimens from time to time.
The reason that so much has been said about collecting living
specimens, is not only because in them the shell is more likely to be
perfect, but also because in its living state the shell is coated with
a layer of animal matter, sometimes thin and transparent, at others
thick and opaque, called the _periostracum_ (or _epidermis_), which
serves to protect the shell from the weather, but which perishes with
the animal, so that dead shells which have lain for some time
tenantless on the ground, or at the bottom of the water, exposed to
the destructive agencies that are constantly at work in nature, have
almost invariably lost both their natural polish and their varied
hues, and are besides only too often broken as well. Since, however,
even a damaged specimen is better than none at all, such should always
be kept until a more perfect example can be obtained.