of them are: some live at the mouths of rivers, and a very mouths of rivers, and some entirely lacustrine, and that there small number are entirely fluviatile Genera. * Turriculated. Cerithium. Animal very much elongated, the mantle prolonged into a canal at its right side, but without a distinct tube; the foot terminated by a depressed, proboscidiform muzzle; tentacula very distant, with large rings, swollen, as it were, in the lower part of their length, and carrying the eyes at the summit of this enlargement. Mouth terminal, in the form of a vertical slit, without any labial tooth, and with a very small tongue furnished with regularly disposed reflexed teeth. A single straight branchia. is but one belonging to the French seas (nos mers), whilst more than a hundrea fossil species are found in France and Italy. M. Defrance s genus Nerinea, he remarks, would be better placed an, ong the Pyramidellæ. a, Cerithium Madagascariense (Lam.); b, C. Madagascariense (Pirena, Lam.), according to De Blainville. N. B. It is not clear that these are not the same species, notwithstanding the comparative smoothness of b. Lamarck places Cerithium at the commencement of the first section (Canalifères) of his Zoophagous Trachelipods, immediately after Turritella, the last of his Phytiphagous (Plant-eating) Trachelipods. Cuvier gives it a position after Purpura, Cassis, and Terebra, and before Murex. This, as the Rev. M. J. Berkeley and Mr. Hoffman observe in their interesting paper on the anatomical structure of Cerithium Telescopium, would imply a structure of the parts of the mouth adapted for boring shells, according to the known habits of Murex, and certain allied genera; but, they remark, a single glance at Adanson's figure is sufficient for conviction that the animal is much more nearly allied to the Trochoides; and that Lamarck judged rightly, according to the evidence before him, in placing it on the confines of his two great classes. This is corroborated, they add, by the little additional information of M. Sander Rang, who describes the mouth as toothless, but furnished with a small tongue. M. Sander Rang states that this genus, so numerous in species both living and fossil, contains only marine animals; but, nevertheless, there are some of them which live at the mouths of rivers, and these are precisely the individuals which M. Brongniart has united to form the genus Potamides, which cannot be adopted in zoology, inasmuch as it does not rest upon sufficiently marked characters. M. Rang adopts, generally, the divisions of De Blainville with appro bation, but he rejects the sixth group (2), which comprehends the genus Pirena, which Rang, following the example of M. de Férussac, places with Melanopsis. Rang agrees with De Blainville in thinking that the division containing Defrance's Nerinea is, perhaps, doubtful, and that its position would be better near the Pyramidella. He observes that they have in France but two or three living Cerithia; but a great number of fossil species. Deshayes makes the number of living species eightyseven; not reckoning Triforis, of which he gives three species, nor Pirena, of which he also gives three; of the latter Lamarck records four. Anatomy, Habits, &c.-Our limits make it necessary to refer the reader to the paper of the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, A.M., and G. H. Hoffman, Esq., for the anatomy of Cerithium (Zool. Journ., vol. v., p. 431). Adanson, speaking of the habits of one of the species, says that it lives in the sand amongst grass and mangroves, feeding on scolopendres,' and other small marine worms. The individual which formed one of the subjects of the investigation by Mr. Berkeley and Mr. Hoffman, and which was brought from Calcutta, though placed in fresh sea-water, the utmost care being taken to renew it frequently, and though all kinds of marine substances were supplied to the animal for food, refused all nourishment, contenting itself with simply walking over the substances, and, in so doing, touching them a. Subturriculated species. Example.-Melanopsis costata. with its proboscis. As it would not feed, this mdividual (Melanopsis, Lam.; M. buccinoidea); the second consistwas killed by immersion in spirit. The other specimen, ing of those species which have two distinct sinuses at the which was anatomized by the zoologists above mentioned, external border of the aperture, one which separates it from was brought from Ceylon. Mr. Gray (March 25, 1834) the columella, the other situated near the union of this read a note to the Zoological Society of London, giving an border with the penultimate whorl. (Pirena, Lam.) De account of the arrival in England of two living specimens Blainville gives the following division of the genus. of Cerithium armatum, which had been obtained at the Mauritius, and had been brought from thence in a dry state. That the inhabitants of land shells will remain alive without moisture for many months, is, he remarked, well known. [BULINUS, vol. vi., p. 8]. He had had occasion to observe that various marine Mollusca will retain life in a state of torpidity for a considerable time; some facts, in illustration of which, he had communicated to the Society (Zool. Proc., part i., p. 116). The present instance included, however, a torpidity of so long a continuance as to induce him to mention it particularly. The animal, though deeply contracted within the shell, was apparently healthy, and beautifully coloured. It emitted a considerable quantity of bright green fluid, which stained paper of a grass-green colour: it also coloured two or three ounces of pure water. green solution, after standing twelve hours in a stoppered bottle, became purplish at the upper part; but the paper retained its green colour though exposed to the atmosphere. A specimen of C. Telescopium, sent from Calcutta to Mr. G. B. Sowerby in sea-water, lived out of water in a small tin box for more than a week. Cerithium has been found in the sea on various bottoms, and in estuaries, at a depth ranging from the surface to seventeen fathoms. FOSSIL CERITHIA, This Deshayes in his tables gives the number of fossil (tertiary) Cerithia at 220, and of these he records Cerithia vulgatum, Latreillei, doliolum, giganteum, alucaster, granulosum, and bicinctum, as both living and fossil. He gives two fossil (tertiary) species of Pirena and two of Triforis. The form is found from the Supracretaceous to the Oolit. group, both inclusive. Potamides is recorded in the weald clay Sussex (Mant.); and Nerinea in the Oolitic group (Bailly), near Auxerre, St. Mehiel (Meuse), Kimmeridge Clay, Coral Rag, Bernese Jura, Forest Marble, Oxford oolite, Dorset (Nerinea, Goodhallii), Inferior oolite. Mr. Lea (Contributions to Geology) describes and figures from the Claiborne beds a shell which he names provisionally Cerithium? striatum; observing that he is by no means satisfied in placing this shell among the Cerithia. It has a stronger resemblance in the mouth to the genus Melania, but being a marine shell cannot, he remarks, with propriety be placed in that genus. De Blainville, he adds, figures a shell (Malacalogie, pl. 21, bis, fig. 2), under the name of Potamides fragilis, which certainly ought to belong to the same genus with this, the mouth being very nearly the same. Until more species shall be obtained, Mr. Lea has forborne to create for it a new genus. He further states, that there have been no Cerithia yet found in the beds at Claiborne, although they abound in England and on the Continent in the tertiary formation, there being 137 species in the Paris basin alone. Melanopsis. Animal furnished with a proboscidiform muzzle, with two contractile, conical, annulated tentacula, having each at their external base an oculated peduncle; foot attached to the neck; respiratory orifice in the canal formed by the union of the mantle with the body. Shell with an epidermis, elongated, fusiform or conico-cylindrical, with a pointed summit; whorls of the spire from six to fifteen, the last often forming two-thirds of the shell; aperture oval, oblong; columella solid, callous, truncated at its base, separated from the anterior border by a sinus, the callosity prolonged upon the convexity of the penultimate whorl, forming a canal backwards; sometimes a sinus at the posterior part of the right border. Operculum horny, subspiral. Habits, &c.-The genus is rather fluviatile than marine, contrary to Cerithium, according to De Blainville. Lamarck, who gives but two species, M. costata and M. lævigata, speaks of them decidedly as fluviatile. Rang says that the genus was established by M. de Férussac for freshwater shells, whose callous and truncated columella did not permit their arrangement with Melania. The latter, in his monograph, divides them into two groups, the first consisting of those species which have a single sinus at the border of the aperture, separating it from the columella Melanopsis costata. B. Example.-Melanopsis buccinoidea. Y. Convex species (Espèces roufiées). It appears to us that Pirena comes more appropriately in the place assigned to it by M. de Férussac and M. Rang than in that allotted to it by M. de Blainville. M. Deshayes gives ten living species of Melanopsis, and, as has been stated above, three of Pirena, Lamarck giving four. FOSSIL MELANOPSIDES. M. Deshayes, in his tables, gives eleven fossil (tertiary) species of Melanopsis, and of these he records the following species, Melanopsides buccinoidea, Dufourei, costata, nodosa, acicularis, and incerta, as both living and fossil (tertiary). Of Pirena, he records two fossil (tertiary) species. Dr. Fitton, in his Systematic and Stratigraphical List of Fossils of the strata below the chalk (Trans. Geol. Soc., 2nd series, vol. iv.), mentions two species with a note of interrogation after the generic name, viz., M. attenuata and M. tricarinata, from the weald-clay, Dorsetshire, and the Hastings' sand, Sussex. He also alludes to a third unnamed species with a query, from the Purbeck, Bucks. Planaxis. Animal unknown. Shell oval, conical, solid, transversely furrowed; aperture oblong; columella flattened and truncated anteriorly, separated from the right border or lip by a sinus; right lip furrowed or rayed within, and thickened by a decurrent callosity at its origin. Operculum horny, oval, delicate, subspiral. Lamarck established this genus for certain small shells approximating closely to the Phasianella, but differing from them by the truncation of the anterior part of the columella. He only records two species, viz., P. sulcata and P. undulata. M. Rang states that he possesses six welldistinguished species. Habits, &c.-Planaxis is a littoral shell, and is sometimes found under stones. M. Rang says that he had had occasion to observe the animal at the Isle of France, where the rocks are sometimes covered with them, but, having lost his notes, he is unable to give its principal characters. According to his recollection, the animal differed very little from that of Phasianella. M. Deshayes in his tables puts the living species at four. Example.-Planaxis sulcata. Planaxis sulcata Deshayes in his tables gives five fossil (tertiary) species. Subula. Anima spiral, very much elevated; foot very short and round; head with extremely small triangular tentacula, bearing the eyes at their summit; a long labial proboscis without hooks (crotchets), at the bottom of which is the mouth equally unarmed. Shell without an epidermis, turriculated, and with a pointed spire; whorls smooth, ribanded, bifid; aperture oval, small, deeply notched anteriorly; external lip thin and sharp-edged; internal or columellar lip with an oblique bourrelet at its extremity. Operculum oval, horny, lamellar, and as it were imbricated. M. de Blainville thus characterizes a genus which he says he found himself compelled to establish upon examining the animal brought home by MM. Quoy and Gaimard, the shell of which had been hitherto confounded with the Terebra; and he arranges under this new genus all those species whose shell is very much elevated, whose spire is very pointed, and whose whorls are ribanded; and, consequently, the greatest number of the twenty-four living species characterized by Lamarck, and which nearly all belong to the East Indies and Australasia. Example.-Subula maculata (Lam.), Buccinum maculatum (Linn.). Locality. Moluccas and Pacific Ocean, according to Lamarck, who speaks of his possession of a specimen taken on the shores of Owhy hee. verse anterior furrow and two lateral auricles; head bordered with a small fringe; cylindrical tentacula terminated in a point and very distant; eyes but little apparent at the origin and outside of the tentacula; mouth without a proboscis; tube of the respiratory cavity very long. Shell without an epidermis, inclining to oval; spire sharp, not much elevated or subturriculated; aperture large, oval, strongly notched anteriorly; columella with an oblique bourrelet at its extremity. No operculum. (De Blainville.) M. De Blainville only leaves in this genus, which he thinks ought perhaps to belong to the family of non-operculated Entomostomata, those species of Lamarck's Terebra, which, in their general form, bear some resemblance to the Buccina, such, for example, as his Vis buccinée (Terebra vittata); because De Blainville supposes that the animal resembles that of the Miran of Adanson, which is the type, and which differs much from that of the subulated species to which De Blainville gives the generic name of Subula, Alène, in French. Habits, Locality, &c.-The species, De Blainville observes, appear to come from warm climates only, like the Subule. Terebra (Lamarck) occurs at depths ranging from the surface to 17 fathoms. The species sometimes creep on reefs out of the water, but within reach of the spray. He Since the publication of the works of M. De Blainville and of M. Rang, Mr. Gray, on the 8th July, 1834, exhibited an extensive series of the shells of Terebra, and enumerated 45 species (21 of them new), all of them either in the British Museum or in his own private collection. He stated that the animal has a small foot, and a very long proboscis, at the base of which are seated two very small tentacula; the operculum is ovate, thin, horny, rounded behind, and rather tapering in front. The shell is covered by a very thin, pellucid, horn-coloured periostraca: it is usually white, variously streaked with brown, the streaks being often interrupted or broken into spots by the two spiral bands of the shell; one of these bands is placed near the spiral groove and the other on the middle of the whorl. The apex of the cavity is frequently filled up by a calcareous deposition; but this deposition has never been observed in Ter. duplicata. Mr. Gray divides the species into the three following sections. 1st. Anfractibus sulco spirali cingulum posterius efformante; labio interiore, tenui concavo. observes upon this section, that the cingulum is most conspicuous in young shells; and that the internal lip is very rarely thickened in adults. To this section he refers 30 species (Terebra maculata, Lam., &c.), 15 of them new. 2nd. Anfractibus sulco spirali cingulum posterius efformante; labio interiore incrassato, subelevato. He observes that the species of this section (seven, five of which are new) somewhat resemble the Cerithia in the aperture. 3rd. Anfractibus sulco postico nullo. These last he divides into two sub-sections* with a thin internal lip, which he subdivides into (a) those species which have an elongated slender shell, and (b) those which have a short shell, and **with the internal lip thickened and elevated, and the shell short; and he observes that these approximate somewhat to the Nassee, but have neither the internal dilated lip, nor the external thickened lip. This third section contains eight species, one of which is new. Mr. Gray does not notice Subula of De Blainville, and it Turbinaceous; or genera whose spire is moderately may therefore be considered that he does not admit the elongated, rarely subturriculated. generic distinction. Shell of Subula maculata, and last whorl of the shell with the animal and operculum a. M. Rang observes that it is much to be desired that new observations on the animals of these shells may lead to the decided line of separation between the Subule and the Terebra. ** Terebra. Animal spiral, rather elevated; foot oval, with a trans Animal of Terebra (Vis Miran) from Adanson, and shell of Terebra vittata, FOSSIL SUBULE and TEREBRÆ. De Blainville refers to his genus Subula many of the fossil species which had been considered as Terebra, and which coincide with his definition of the former genus; but he does not enumerate the species, nor draw any distinct line of demarcation between the fossils of these respective genera. He remarks that M. Defrance makes the fossil species of both these genera seventeen, of which five are identical, three from Italy, one from Grignon, and one from Bourdeaux. The 'vis scalarine fossile de Parnes' De Blainville thinks should be referred to the genus Terebra. M. Deshayes, in his tables, makes Terebra (of Bruguière and Lamarck we presume, for he does not notice Subula) consist of 44 living species and 16 fossil (tertiary), of which last he considers two new species, and Terebra Faval, strigilata and pertusa, to be both living and fossil (tertiary). Dr. Fitton, in his stratigraphical and local distribution of the fossils of the strata below the chalk, records T. Port landica as occurring in the Portland stone in Dorset, South | Montfort, and the genus Nassa, Lamarck. M. De Férussac Wilts, North Wilts, Oxford, and Bucks. Mr. Lea describes divides the genus into two subgenera, viz., The Buccina and figures three additional species of Terebra (Lamarck) properly so called, of which B. undatum may be considered from the Claiborne beds, remarking that four species of the the type, and the Eburna. M. Sander Rang adopts this genus have been observed in England, three in the Oolitic arrangement. We confine ourselves to the true Buccina. group, and one in the London clay. He refers to the 16 The species are very numerous. Deshayes, in his tables, species given for the tertiary by M. Deshayes, and says gives 140, and new species are continually arriving. Mr. that ten of these are found at Baden (Miocene) and seven W. Lytellton Powys, for instance, describes (Zool. Proc., at Bourdeaux (Miocene). Here is evidently an error in 1835,) four new species from Mr. Cuming's collection. the number. He adds that Mr. Conrad had observed one Example.-Buccinum undatum. The Waved Whelk. species, which he calls simplex, in the tertiary of Maryland, being the only one heretofore observed,' adds Mr. Lea, in our formations.' Eburna. Shell oval or elongated, smooth; spire pointed, whorls running together as it were, without a marked distinction of suture; aperture inclining to oval, elongated, widened, and deeply notched in front; right lip entire; columella callous posteriorly, umbilicated subcanaliculated at its external part. Geographical Distribution.-The seas of warm climates; sandy mud? Of the five living species, Lamarck refers the locality of three to the East Indies and one to South America and perhaps India. De Blainville states in his Malacologie' (1825) that no Eburna had then been discovered in a fossil state. M. Rang remarks (1829) in his Manuel' that there are fossil species. Deshayes, in his tables, records five living species and one (new species) fossil (tertiary). Buccinum. To avoid repetition the reader is referred to the character of the family at the beginning of the article for a general description of the animal. Dr. Buckland observes that the organ by means of which the carnivorous Trachelipods bore holes through shells for the purpose of extracting the juices of the animal is well exemplified in the English species Buccinum Lapillus (Purpura Lapillus) and Buccinum undatum. The proboscis is armed with a number of minute teeth set upon a retractile membrane for the purpose of perforation. Mr. Osler (Phil. Trans., 1832) gives a figure of the rasp-like perforating tongue of B. undatum. See also Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise. Shell oval, elongated, with a pointed but moderately elevated spire; aperture oblong or oval, deeply notched anteriorly; right lip entire, sometimes thick; columella simple or callous; Operculum horny, oval, subconcentric; summit but little marked and marginal. Geographical Distribution.-Very wide. Species occur in almost all seas. Buccinum glaciale and Buccinum Sabinii are noted in the supplement to the appendix of Captain Parry's first voyage as having been met with during the period in which the expedition remained within the Arctic circle. Habits. The species have been found at depths ranging from the surface to 17 fathoms. The greater part of the genus is littoral. M. De Blainville subdivides the species into many sections comprehending the true Buccina, including the genera Alectrion (B. papillosum) and Cyclops (B. neriteum) of De This is the species so commonly exposed for sale as food on the street stalls in the metropolis. Pennant, speaking of another species that occurs in vast abundance on our rocks near low-water, namely, B. Lapillus (Purpura Lapillus) above alluded to, remarks that it is one of the English shells that produces the purple dye, analogous to the Purpura of the antients; and Mr. William Cole, of Bristol, thus describes (1684) the process of obtaining the English Purpura:-The shells, being harder than most of other kinds, are to be broken with a smart stroke with a hammer, on a plate of iron or firm piece of timber (with their mouths downwards), so as not to crush the body of the fish within; the broken pieces being picked off, there will appear a white vein, lying transversely in a little furrow or cleft, next to the head of the fish, which must be digged out with the stiff point of a horsehair pencil, being made short and tapering. The letters, figures, or what else shall be made on the linen (and perhaps silk too), will presently appear of a pleasant light green colour, and, if placed in the sun, will change into the following colours, i.e., if in winter, about noon; if in the summer, an hour or two after sunrising, and so much before setting; for in the heat of the day, in summer, the colours will come on so fast, that the succession of each colour will scarcely be distinguished. Next to the first light-green it will appear of a deep-green, and in a few minutes change into a sea-green; after which, in a few minutes more, it will alter into a watchet-blue; from that, in a little time more, it will be of a purplish-red; after which, lying an hour or two (supposing the sun still shining), it will be of a very deep purple-red, beyond which the sun can do no more. But then the last and most beautiful colour, after washing in scalding water and soap, will (the matter being again put into the sun or wind to dry) be of a fair bright crimson, or near to the prince's colour, which afterwards, notwithstanding there is no use of any stiptic to bind the colour, will continue the same, if well ordered, as I have found in handkerchiefs that have been washed more than forty times; only it will be somewhat allayed from what it was after the first washing. While the cloth so writ upon lies in the sun, it will yield a very strong and foetid smell, as if garlic and asafoetida | unequal, two in number; orifice of the oviduct at the were mixed together.' (Phil. Trans., Abr. II. 826.) We have inserted this account here, because the shell M. Deshayes in his tables makes the number of fossil NASSA. Animal very much depressed, with a very large foot extending beyond the body on all sides, but especially in front, where it is large and angular, whilst posteriorly it is insensibly narrowed. For the rest like the animal of Purpura. Shell globular, oval or subturriculated; aperture oblong, notched anteriorly; right lip sharp-edged, often plaited within; columellar lip covered with a large callous plate, extending more or less far. Operculum horny. Mr. Lea (Contributions to Geology) says, 'I have not hesi tated to separate this genus from Buccinum (although Lamarck united them after having made the division) because they certainly form a very natural group. Cuvier separates it, as M. de Blainville also does, into a sub-genus.' M. de Blainville certainly makes one of his sections of Buccinum consist of the genus Nassa; but Rang separates it decisively. Geographical Distribution. There are many living species mostly from the warmer climates. A very small number belong to Europe. Habits. Much like those of Buccinum. The species have been found on reefs, coral sand, sand, sandy mud, and under stones, at depths ranging from the surface to 15 fathoms. Mr. Powys has lately described eight new species from nama. FOSSIL NASSE. There are many fossil Nasse, as the reader must have collected from the notice of the genus among the fossil Buccina. Mr. Lea describes and figures a new species from Claiborne, and adds that Mr. Conrad has observed in the tertiary of Maryland four species, three of which have been described by Mr. Say, in a recent state, upon the American shores. The genus occurs among the Gosau fossils, and Dr. Fitton in his Stratigraphical Table records two species below the chalk, viz., N. costellata and N. lineata, both from Blackdown. entrance of the branchial cavity of the right side, orifice of the deferent canal at the extremity of a very voluminous excitatory organ; vent on the same side. Shell oblong, more or less convex, generally rather delicate, enamelled, furnished with regular longitudinal ribs; spire a little elevated and pointed, the last whorl very large; aperture oval, elongated, widely notched anteriorly, the right lip with an external bourrelet, columella_simple, pointed anteriorly. No operculum according to M. Reynaud. Shell of Harpa ventricosa, and animal crawling with its shell. Geographical Distribution, Habits, &c.-The genus 18 found in the seas of warm climates, and is more especially abundant at the Mauritius and the neighbouring islands, whence the finest of the more common species and the many-ribbed harps are procured. The animal is said to be of a rich vermilion red. The fishery is principally carried on at low water with a small rake, to which a net is attached, on sand-banks at night, and at sunrise when the harps are probably out upon their feed. They have been known to take the bait on the fishing lines laid for olives (Oliva). MM. Quoy and Gaimard, and, afterwards, M. Reynaud state, that the animal of the harp can, sometimes, when attacked by an enemy, disembarrass itself of the posterior part of the foot, and completely withdraw itself into the shell. M. Reynaud explains this phenomenon by giving his opinion that the transverse laceration which causes, in the movement of contraction exerted by the animal, the separation of the posterior part of the foot, arises from the resistance which that part, too voluminous to enter the shell after the animal, encounters from the edges of the shell. M. Rang observes, that though no operculum has been found, (and the animal appears to have been carefully examined,) he does not hesitate to leave the genus among those which are provided with one, because, in the first place, Harpa is similarly organised, and, in the next, if deprived of that appendage, it has, at least, the posterior part of the foot to take, in some sort, its place. Authors generally make the number of living species eight, and of these the most precious, though lately greatly depressed in value, is the Many-ribbed Harp (Harpa imperialis.) But some of the species are very difficult of deAmpullaceous Entomostomata, or those whose shells finition, though others are well marked. The shells when are, in general, globular. in fine condition are great favourites with collectors, and, Only two species are recorded, in the tertiary formation. |