The conch or winkle does not like to live in sand, or on hard rock. He likes deep water, where he has some sand and some rock. When the wind blows, and the sea is very rough, he digs his stout foot into the sand near a stone, and holds fast. Then he will not drift on shore. If he is cast on the shore, he will die. Mr. Conch cannot live out of water. Mrs. Conch likes some soft sand for a bed for her babes in their queer cradles. What does Mr. Conch eat? He eats other shell-fish. He likes to eat oysters. How does he get them? He goes off to the oyster beds. He likes the nice young oysters. He picks one up with his foot. You see he uses his foot for a hand as well as for a door. He can spread his foot out very wide. It is very, very strong. When he has the oyster in his grip, he draws his foot close, as you would shut your hand tight. That breaks up the shell of the oyster. Then Mr. Conch sucks up the oyster at his ease. [Illustration: CAST AWAY ON AN ISLAND.] The men who own oyster beds do not like him, for he eats many oysters. Mr. Conch lives a great many years. No one can hurt him in his hard house, and he has all he wants to eat. His shell is the shape of a large pear. It has a little point at the top, and a long end like a stem. The stem end has a groove in it. His shell has a turn or twist in it, three or four times round. It is of a sand-color, or pale yellow, outside. Some shells have dark stripes. Inside, the shell is very smooth, and shines, and is of a fine, bright red, or pink, or yellow. It is a very pretty shell. How does the conch grow? The conch grows from an egg. Most fish lay eggs. The eggs of the conch are in a string. They are left lying on the sand to grow. What is the conch good for? In some places people like them to eat. Fish and crabs eat the conchs’ eggs and the young conchs. The shells are made into buttons and breast-pins. The Indians used to make money from the pink part of these shells. They also used the purple part of the round clam shell for money. LESSON XXXVI. SEA-BABIES. Now we must learn more about that string of eggs that Mrs. Conch left on the sand. First it was like a thread with knots tied close together on it. Then it grew to be a yard long. It grew very fast. The knots grew into little cases, or pockets. They were set close to each other. At the two ends of the string the cases were small, but after three or four small ones, the others were of the size and shape of big Lima beans. Once I was out on the sand with a boy. We found a string of this kind. It had been cast up by the waves. It was of a pale straw-color, and like a long curl. The boy said, “It is a sea-weed.” I said, “No.” Then he said, “It is some kind of a bean or seed.” I said, “It is fish seed.” Let us look at it. [Illustration: OUT IN THE COLD.]