wildering number of well-characterized genera. It has many 

 representatives in every sea, but, as is apt to be the case, the 

 finest and most striking species are tropical. The animal is not 

 peculiar in any way, being altogether a conventional prosobranch 

 gasteropod, with moderately long foot, and the usual tentacles 

 placed upon a small head. There is a retractile proboscis, which 

 suggests carnivorous habits. In reality the Muricidce are per- 

 fect pirates among the Mottusca, attacking nearly every species 

 they encounter, piercing its shell and devouring the unfortunate 

 inhabitant. They live in rocky and gravelly places or about 

 coral reefs. Their shells are seldom colored, except about the aper- 

 ture. What the shells lack in color, however, they fully gain in 

 oddness of form and in sculpturing. The anterior canal varies 

 from a mere notch to an astonishingly long channel. The ten- 

 dency to nodes, varices, spires, and varicose processes in general 

 is a prominent feature of the family. 



There are several genera, with numerous species, upon the east 

 and west coasts of the United States, but we can do no more here 

 than mention those which are very common. 



GENUS Murex 



Of this tropical genus there are two Floridian species M. 

 rufus and M. pomum. The genus has been very extensively 

 divided into subgenera, based upon shell-characters alone. Some 

 of these subgenera are usually accepted at full generic value, and 

 their substitution for the old, well-established name Murex is to 

 be expected. These two Floridian species fall within different 

 subgeneric lines, and the student who goes to a museum to com- 

 pare his catch with the labeled specimens on exhibition will 

 probably be puzzled to find his two murices named Chicoreus 

 rufus and Phyllonotus pomum respectively. But for our purposes 

 the name Murex will do well enough. 



M. rufus. This species scarcely ever exceeds three inches in length. 

 Its spire is moderately high, and the aperture is oblong-ovate, with a 

 long, slightly curved, and almost completely inclosed anterior canal. 

 Through the end of this the fleshy siphon projects in life. The shell is 

 most extravagantly sculptured so intricately that it is difficult to 

 describe it. Its most conspicuous feature is the large foliaceous varices 



