Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 124, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1911 — The Junkman of the Sea. [ARTICLE]

The Junkman of the Sea.

The carrier snail is to the sea what the junkman is to the ladd. It receives its name from its habit of carrying foreign objects on Its back. Nothing comes amiss to the carrier snail if it is not too big. Cast-off shells of small molluscs, bits of broken coral, tiny stones, and even fragments of broken glass dropped overboard from passing vessels are cemented firmly to the edges of the growing shell. Nor is it satisfied when the shell is completely covered, but continues to add to its collection by fastening new pieces to the old ones already piled upon its back until it is no longer able to move beneath its burden.

As it is an inhabitant of tropical waters swarming with voracious fish, crabs, etc., there is method in its madness ; its hungry enemies pass it by unable to distinguish, it from the ' rocks and shells on the sea bottom. Some of the snails show a preference for tiny pebbles all of one shape and equal size, others accumulate only shells of one kind, and one picked up off the coast of Japan had its portable house 'entirely roofed with glass.