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Now she no longer summners in ivie g li that has been supplanted by a new habitat, a Florida island home, and the rock garden has a rival in Florida. sea shels. The need for a warner climnate attracted Mrs. Miner to ,Flor- ida,. and now that she has turned collector. of sheils, she, finds more thain the. ci.mate to' ab- sorb her attention. On the lovely.iyorningof this interview Mrs., Miner received me on the summrer-ý porch, overlooking the lawn and the far-famned rock garden. We; sat 1and chatted a bit, with the idea of . doing a little verbal ïexploration. of the. rock garden, but the conversa- tion early turhed to sheils, and it was really only a. postscript that :got in a w ord and a tour about the garden. The miore'I learned about sheils, collecting was even more popular tixan it i today, collectors came fromn Europe to Sanibel - a-d- went home to write scientific works on conchology according to Mrs. Miner. 1After. we had dutifully looked at the rock garden, we went into the house and upstairs to see. more- shelis on diîsplay. At the top of the stairs.were.two 'conipaion pieces, arrange- ments of shells on white cotton under glass. ln the upstairs, sitting room :wa1s. a huge chest filled .with-traYS,. each carefùnly arranged. with assorted -shelis. In an adjoining corner was, ing out rnerely one set under gis and pointig out its variety of charrms. In the center was a star- fish with long undulations in a thread-lke brown. Rangéd about' it i iteresting patterns were numnerous. other star-f ish, tiny for the mnost part, coquia, sheils in delicate pastels, dwarf sea horses, and rnany varieties of smnall shelîs. Brought Out Scrapbook the winter homne of the famuiY In recent years. These photographs she had taken herseif and de- veloped in the darlc room estab- lished ini the house. Captiva has a famnous neighbor, Sanibel, which has been known for years by conchologists as one of the world's most famous stations for rare and, lovely shells. iiq1-nhcn the same shell can be uimeu Lgtre u-.ety She also told me that *many of the shelils when found have a rough coating called epi- dermis, which protects the surface from the chemical action of sea water. Shells are pre- pared for display' she explained, by first re- mnoving the animal inside and-then by soaking the sheli in, diluted chiorox to -remove the epidermis. Afterward. they are polished w%-ith a soft,, oily brush. Filled With, Rare Sight, Another tray. in Mrs. Miner' s chest was fiiled with a rare sight, fossil. sheils of ail kinds in pure white. A million years of laying beneath. the sands had'bleached, ail the color. Mrs.L Miner found these during the construction of the, flood control, dykes at. the southern end of 'Lake, Okechobee. The monovalves In her collection were, equally interesting. Some of tecrown. conches, were intricately marked ini brown anid white with occasional shadings of blue. These shela were armed with one to 41..&ows of. sharp ,points, and rare specimens may have four, five, or even six rows, Mrs. Miner pointed out. Every school child has heard. of the golden fleece, but who knows what it is? Mrs* Miner told me that the name was given to the byssus of the' Mediterranean pin- na sheil. The pinna sheli attaches, itself to another sheil, a coral reef, or the sea bottom by its byssus, which may be hairy, fibrous, or horny. She sh.owed me, a dark hrown and vellow byssus from a color-hence the namne','golden fleece." She also said that gloves and purses are stilli madeT rô- m this fleece and sold as souvenirs. *Nôw for a word or two about the :rock garden. This isjustly famhed in the annals of north shore gardens for it is 23 years old and especiaily interesting for its col- lection of dwarf. evergreens. - We went ail through it, passing the' badminton and tennis courts to get It is the cùstom for sheli couleci.ors t> visîi. Samibel after a strong northwest wind for then the beaches are strewn with rare sheils and an infinite. variety of sponges and mnany forrns of sea life. More.,than 100 years ago, when shel ive one% at curloi enough , no- niatter i AI mu When the gard en was in is early stages, r. Miner and she brought in rocks by the aby buggy, coaster wagon, and later by truck. hey used some granite at first 'but found it suitable. Later they concentrated almost en- rely on native limestone. which.is' porous and,