MUEEX. 487 



the proboscis, which itself is enclosed in a case, and consists of 

 two pale fleshy lobes, supported by very thin corneous plates, 

 between which the tongue is fixed, and after passing the extent 

 of the proboscidal tube, it forms a coil of four or five turns, 

 immediately behind its posterior part; it is narrow, white, 

 spiny, and about half an inch long; under the coil is the 

 cerebral cordon embracing the oesophagus, formed of about 

 eight suboval yellow ganglions. There are two branchial 

 plumes, one large and pale brown, the other minute, linear, 

 and of a much darker hue ; they have the arterial vessel in the 

 centre, and are fixed as in the congeneric species; then are 

 seen the mucous fillets which furnish the material for the 

 capsules of the ova : the rectum and ovarium, with the canal 

 of the viscous sac, debouche on the right side. The stomach 

 is enormous, and always found filled with a tenacious mass of 

 pulp ; the ovarium is yellowish- white, mixed up with the liver, 

 which is of a dark brownish-green, occupying, with either 

 the ovarium or testis, the posterior whorls of the shell to the 

 apex. The sexes are distinct : the male organe generateur 

 differs from the ridged, grooved, spatulate and double- pointed 

 appendages of some of the Murices, in being smaller, flatter, 

 less pointed and more strap-shaped. This detailed account of 

 these organs will not be repeated, as they are essentially the 

 same in all the Murices. 



This section, I believe, contains only the British species 

 now described. It is common everywhere, and rarely extends 

 its habitat beyond the littoral zone. 



Sectio V. Testa tumida, granuloso-plicata vel Icevis. Canalis obliquo- 

 dorsali-brevissimus. Apertura ovalis. Columella striata, in plicam 

 intorta. Operculum corneum. 



NASSA, Lamarck et Auct. 

 M. RETICULATUS, Linnaeus. 



Buccinum reticulatum, Montagu. 



Nassa reticulata, Lamarck et Brit. Moll. iii. p. 388, pi. 108. f. 1, 2; 

 (animal) pi. L.L. f. 3. 



Animal spiral. Mantle of very thin texture, not extending 

 beyond the aperture, except that portion of it styled the 



