It will be noted that all the specimens figured as examples, save one, are spiral, the coils revolving about an imaginary axis. When the whorls are not too closely coiled there is left open to the view a hollow space throughout the entire length of the shell, which is called the /umbilicus/. When the coils of the shell are very compact there is no umbilicus to be seen. The umbilical opening may be very large, giving a clear view of the inner surfaces of all the whorls right through to the apex. The usual gasteropod shell is in reality a hollow tube wound about an imaginary axis. Since the tube increases in size as it progresses, the base of the shell is necessarily wider and larger than the apex. Thus all gasteropod shells may be reduced in shape to the single type of a cone or top, modified by the excessive length or shortness of the spire, or otherwise altered by special peculiarities. In /Polynices duplicata/ (page 368), it will be observed that while the [pg345] umbilicus is fairly large, its external opening, in the adult shell, has been almost completely closed by a callous process thrown off from the inner or columellar lip. Gasteropod shells may be /sinistral/ or /dextral/, according as the whorls turn to the left or right. The great majority of marine species are dextral, having the opening on the right, although a few species exhibit the curious property of being constructed upon either the one or the other plan without apparent reason. Sinistral specimens of many normally dextral species have been discovered, but they are so rare as to warrant the belief that such specimens are merely deformities or monstrosities resulting from some accident of birth. The collector will soon learn to distinguish between young and adult specimens, for those finishing touches of wonder and beauty which the mollusk gives to his protective covering are made only by the adult. The outer lip of young gasteropod shells is usually thin and fragile; even if slightly thickened, it has an unformed or unfinished appearance. Shells differ greatly in their /structure/, many species being porcelanous like china, others glassy, and many more are of a softer chalky composition. In the latter case the shell is usually covered with a thick membranous skin, which, when removed, leaves a dull, lusterless, white body beneath. Shells of this texture, when cast upon the beach, soon yield to the weathering action of sun and air. The porcelanous shells are composed of successive layers of carbonate of lime, throughout which is a filmy membranous framework of a substance similar to that of which the covering of the /Crustacea/ is formed. The mode of deposition of the various layers of crystalline calcic carbonate and the peculiar lineation of their outer surfaces give rise to the iridescent or nacreous appearance of some shells.