GA8TEROPODOUS MOLLUSCA OF BERWICKSHIRE. 239 



the outer fold of the pillar. Length ^ths. Flem. Brit. Anini. 

 340. Buccinuni macula, Dillw. Roc. Sh. 038. 



ll.il>. licnvirk Bay, at and within low water mark, frequent 



lli- slirll has frequently a red band on the centre of the body-whorl ; and a 



beautiful variety is sometimes found entirely red." Mr J. Alder. 

 Anim.-il straw-coloured, speckled with black: tentacula setaceous, bulged at 

 the base, the eyes placed half-way up on their outer side: syphon long 

 brown, speckled and black near the base, either straight and projected, or 

 retroverted and laid on the back of the shell when in motion : foot and 

 collar plain : mouth with a long proboscis, thicker towards the apex, and, 

 as usual, furnished with a filiform striatc tongue. The animal is activ.-. 

 and tolerably quick in progression. 



5. PURPURA. LAMARCK. 



Shell oval, thick, ribless ; aperture dilated, ovate, with a short wide 

 canal ; pillar flattened ; outer lip without a varix : operculum horny. 



1, P. Lapillus, shell ovate-acute, white, obsoletely ridged in a spiral 

 direction ; whorls six, those of the spire small, the suture obscure ; 

 aperture oval, tinged with purple, the outer lip thick, toothed 

 within ; pillar plain, with a thick fold at the base. Length 

 1 j^ths, breadth ^ths. Lam. Anim. s. vert. vii. 244. Flem. Brit. 

 Anim. 341. Buccinum lapillus, Linn. Dillw. Rcc. Sh. 613. 

 Purple Fish, Cole in Phil. Trans, xv. ann. 1685, p. 1278, tab. 3. 

 fig. 3-8. 



Hob. Berwick Bay, between tide marks, abundant. 



1 niinature shells are often marked with bands of brown or yellow, and the spiral 

 ridges or ribs are roughened with scales, a variety which constitutes the 

 P. imbricata of Lamarck. 



Animal; tentacula 2, dorsal, tapered, flattish, dilated below the eyes which 

 are inserted in an incisure near their middle and on the outside : mouth 

 with a short proboscis : margin of the cloak plain, marked with a brown 

 band ; foot short, plain, oval, the brown horny operculum placed on its 

 back ; branchiae in two very unequal pectinated processes adnate to the 

 syphonal side of the respiratory cavity ; penis flat, curved, retroflexcd, 

 obtuse, with a terminal mucro. 



The nidus of this animal is very different from that of Fusus or Buccinum ; 

 and we may add from the typical Purpunr, from which our shell has been 

 separated by Mr Swainson, and placed in his new genus 7 Wi/fre/-*. It is 

 described by Ellis (Coral 1. p. 87. tab. 32. fig. c, c.) as an " Alcyonium, seu 

 cyathus marinus," and is in the form of a wine-glass or vase, adhering by 

 a broad base, and hanging in general from the roof of shelving rocks in 

 considerable clusters. " When they are first taken out of the sea, they ore 

 of a bright semi-transparent yellow colour, of a horny tough nature, con- 

 taining a viscid substance, with many orange-coloured seed, or egg-like 

 particles, in the upper part of each cup," and in which the little shells, 

 completely formed, are soon to be detected with the magnifier. Each 

 nidus is distinct or separate, with a short narrow neck, and the upper part 

 oval, containing the ova or young covered by a convex lid, which at length 

 opens to admit of their escape. 



On the back of the snail there may be observed a pale-coloured vessel wind- 

 ing obliquely backwards, and filled with a liquor of the colour and con- 

 sistence of cream. This liquor affords an indelible dye of a fine purple 

 colour, analogous or perhaps identical with the Tyrian purple of antiquity. 



