GASTEROPODS 401 



about the base. Professor Keep speaks of the vast numbers of these 

 olivellas on sandy stations along the Pacific coast. Having found a place 

 where a " little stream of water was oozing out from the bank of sand," 

 he pi-oceeded to dig with a hoe. " I found them [0, biplicata] by the 

 hundreds," he continues, " and I had gathered about a thousand before 

 the tide came in. They seemed to lie in groups just under the surface 

 of the sand, yet wholly concealed from sight." (Plate LXXVII.) 



O. boetica. A much smaller Pacific form, with a higher tapering 

 spire. It is brown to bluish in color, and often has yellowish stripes. It 

 is polished and shining. Found in sandy stations. 



FAMILY CONID.E 

 GENUS Conus 



This is a comprehensive family of several highly diversified 

 genera. Its most prominent genus is Conns, a name which indi- 

 cates the principal feature of the shell, for it is almost an exact 

 cone in shape. Conus, along with Valuta and Cyprcea, is entitled 

 to the honor of being considered an aristocrat among mollusks 

 There are about three hundred and fifty species known, mostly 

 tropical and Indo-Pacific in distribution. The shells have many 

 points of beauty and are often of very high coloration and ec- 

 centric markings. Some of the rarer forms are famous in con- 

 chological annals for the enormous prices which they have 

 commanded. The rare and beautiful Conus gloria-marts once 

 brought 43 ($215) at an auction sale in London. In all shells of 

 Conus there is a notch at the upper edge of the aperture for the 

 accommodation of a posterior canal. In some other genera of 

 this family this notch becomes a more prominent feature. The 

 animal has a well-developed foot, a retractile proboscis, eyes 

 situated upon the tentacles, and a fairly long siphon. Upon the 

 under surface of the foot is a conspicuous pore, which opens into' 

 a water-vascular system of the foot. Conus is accused of having a 

 poison-gland connected with the radula and of having shown 

 vicious traits when captured. The animals are shy, and remain 

 most of the time in hiding, while their pretty shells during life 

 are generally rendered obscure by a dull, colorless epidermis. 

 There are but few species of Conns upon the Atlantic shores of 

 the United States, and these are confined to the warmer waters 

 of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. 



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