Shells of the World Coloring Book

Mollusks build colorful shells around themselves for camouflage and defense, to warn or attract; shells attract men to collect and value them, as means of exchange or as ornament, as pearl producers and as a source for the colony royal, purple. But purple doesn't begin to exhaust the seashell's regal spectrum; anyone who has looked into a conch or a Golden Cowry has been the nacrous pastels only a shell can creatre. Here is a chance to create nature's palette, on 45 accurate illustrations of shells in their habitat. Artist-malacologist Lucia de Leiris renders species from all the world's oceans, reefs and beaches: Spider Conches and Jackknife Flamingo Tongues off Florida, the poisonous Textile Cone (Australia), tropical Giant Clams and the Emperor's Slit Shell from Japan. Caption gives comments and scientific names, average length of mature animal and geographic range. Full-color cover illustrations show how to nature embellishes these shells; the colorist may match nature or follow his own in decorating some 100 shells of the world.