In speaking of shells as ornaments, and objects worthy of our study and admiration, we have already mentioned some of their uses, for surely that which contributes to the intellectual improvement and innocent pleasure of mankind, is in its degree useful. But on the more narrow ground of utility, shells may also claim a high place in our estimation. To man in a barbarous and uncivilized state, they furnish the means of performing some of the most important operations of daily life, being extensively used as a substitute for iron. The savage frequently forms his knife, his hunting spear, and his fish-hook of hard shell. Lister relates that the inhabitants of Nicaragua, in South America, fasten a shell, called the _Ostrea virginica_, to a handle of wood, and use it as a spade. In North America the natives use a blue and white belt composed of shells called the _Venus mercenaria_, as a symbol of peace and unity, and there too the gorget of the chieftain’s war-dress is composed of the pearl-bearing mussel, called by naturalists _Mytilus margaritiferus_. Many African tribes use the _Murex tritonis_ as a military horn, and a rare variety of this shell, which has the volutions reversed, is held sacred, and used only by the priests. Among the Friendly Islanders the Orange Cowry is a symbol of the highest dignity. The Money Cowry, (_Cypræa moneta_,) forms the current coin of many nations of Africa; and a certain number of these shells strung together, are considered by the slave-hunting chiefs, as an equivalent for so many black-skinned brothers, whom they sell into hopeless bondage. Among nations, too, in a high state of civilization, shells are often used for economical as well as ornamental purposes. To say nothing of mother-of-pearl, which is converted into so many articles useful as well as pretty, scallop, or oyster shells, are frequently employed as scoops by druggists, grocers, and the like; and in the country the dairy-maid, with the larger kinds of the same shell, skims her milk, and slices her butter; while sometimes by the poor people of both towns and villages, the deeper specimens are converted into oil lamps. One very important use, my young readers will understand, when I speak of a ragged urchin, who shouts to every passer-by—‘Please remember the grotto!’ In ancient times, we are told, the people of Athens recorded their votes on public occasions, by marks upon a shell, thus Pope says— “He whom ungrateful Athens would expel, At all times just, but when he signed the shell;”