THE NAUTILUS. 89 



Mayer is very appropriate from its habit of living among Fucus 

 or rock-weed. These are often called simply winkles, although 

 the latter term is often locally applied to a number of gastropods 

 more property included under Whelks. 



The Century Dictionary says : A Whelk is a gastropod of the 

 family Buccinidae, in a broad sense, a buccinoid or similar 

 univalve with a spiral gibbous shell, whose aperture forms a 

 kind of spout and whose whorls are more or less varicose or 

 whelked." Illustrations, Nassa reticulata and Nassa obsoleta. 

 Keep restricts the whelk to the genus Buccinum using " Chry- 

 sodome" etc. for other buccinoids, "Nassa" for the species of 

 Nassidae and "Purple" for the species of Thais (Purpura). 

 With the passing of the genus as used by Lamarck and the 

 preoccupation of the genus JVassa, it seems therefore best to 

 adopt the name whelk as defined in the dictionary and apply 

 it to all the buccinoid and muricoid shells. Buccinum undalum, 

 the Common Whelk ; B. cyaneum the Blue Whelk, Neptunea 

 decemcostata, the Ten-ribbed Whelk ; Coins stimpsoni ( Tritono- 

 fusus or Sipho stimpsoni of authors), Stimpson's Whelk ; Colus 

 pygmaeus, the Pygmy Whelk. To the genus Busycon (Fulgur) 

 has been applied the term Giant Whelks. The most suitable 

 names proposed for the species are Nodose Whelk (B. can'ca), 

 although the var. eliceans becomes spinose when adult ; Reversed 

 Whelk (J5. perversum); Channelled Whelk (B. canaliculatum) 

 and Pear Whelk (B. pyrum). Locally the oystermen call them 

 winkles or wrinkles, while in other localities they are re- 

 ferred to as conchs. The species of Alectrion (Nassa) might 

 bear the following names based on their habits, Mud Whelk 

 (A. obsoleta); Sandy-mud Whelk (^4. vibex) and Sand Whelk 

 (A. trivittata). For the common Thais lapillus (Purpura 

 lapillus') the name Rock Whelk seems more appropriate than 

 "Rock Purple," and the western T. saxicola might be called 

 the Western Rock Whelk, Urosalpinx cinerea is popularly known 

 as the Oyster Drill. 



For the species of Crepidula I prefer the term Slipper Shells, 

 as the name implies, to that of boat-shells, quarter-decks or 

 deckers, and the names proposed in the Shell Book seem appro- 

 priate. The Arched Slipper Shell for C. fornicata, the Flat 



