508 MOLLUSCA. 
more typical species; the opposite (parietal) wall of the aperture usually with one or 
more spiral or oblique plaits, in addition to the constantly present columellar plait at 
the base of this wall. Whorls 6-11, very narrow. Surface usually smooth or with a 
few longitudinal furrows (lines of growth). Eyes distinct, on the surface of the head, 
behind the base of the feelers. Hinder end of the foot in some species two-pointed. 
Widely spread on the tropical and subtropical shores of both hemispheres, but 
absent from Europe; either in estuaries, at the mouths of rivers and small streams, or 
on rocks and small stones at high-water mark. 
H. & A. Adams distinguish two genera, Melampus and Tralia (Gray, 1840), on 
account of the hinder end of the foot being forked in the former and simple in the 
latter. But as this character has been hitherto observed only in very few species, and 
has not certainly been made out in the typical MU. coffea, it is inadvisable to use it. 
Nevertheless, future travellers and collectors would do well to observe and note the 
form of the foot whenever they have an opportunity of seeing the living animal. 
N.B.—As the columellar plait is common to all the species, it is not particularly 
mentioned in the comparative Table on p. 557; the number of the parietal plaits 
indicated in the third column is that of the plaits (or denticles) above the columellar 
plaits and on the same side of the aperture. 
A. MELAMPUS, s. str. 
Several parallel ridges inside the outer margin of the aperture. General shape more 
or less coniform or oval, with very short spire. 
1. Melampus coffea *. 
Buccinum parvum &c., Lister, Hist. Conch. t. 834. fig. 60 (1688) ’. 
Bulla coffea, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 10, p. 729 (1758) *. 
Voluta coffea, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, p. 1187°. 
Melampus coffea, Binney, Land and Freshwater Shells of N. Am. ii. p. 18, fig. 15*; H.& A. Adams, 
Gen. Recent Moll. ii. p. 248, t. 82. figg. 7 (living animal), 7 @ (shell) °; Pfeiffer, Monogr. 
Auric. p. 28°; Catal. Auric. Brit. Mus. p. 19 (1857)"; v. Mart. in Malak. Blatt. xii. p. 61 
(1865) °; Tryon, Am. Journ. Conch. iv. p. 8, t. 18. figg. 7, 8 (the latter copied from Adams) °; 
Fisch. & Crosse, Miss. Scient. Mex., Moll. ii. p. 23, t. 34. figg. 10, 10a"; Dall, Proc. U.S. 
Nat. Mus. 1885, p. 280"; Pilsbry, Proc. Acad. Phil. 1891, p. 320”. 
Auricula mide &c., Martini, Syst. Conch.-Cab. ii. p. 126, t. 43. fig. 445°; Favanne, Conch. t. 65. 
fig. H 8”. 
Bulimus coniformis, Bruguiére, in Encycl. Méth., Vers, i. p. 8389 (1791) ”. 
Melampus coniformis, Montfort, Conch. Syst. ii. p. 318 (1810) *. 
Auricula coniformis, Férussac, Prodr. Hist. Nat. Moll. Terr. p. 105. no. 23‘; Lamarck, Hist. Nat. 
Tr . . Lee . . . 
* The word coffea is a substantive, signifying ‘“ coffee” in modern Latin, the shell resembling a coffee-bean 
in size and colour ; it is therefore correct to write M. coffea, not M. coffeus. 
