CLASS IV 



GASTEOPODA 519 



Subclass 1. STREPTONEURA Spengel. 



(Prosobranchia Cuvier ; Cochlides von Ihering.) 



Gastrofods in which the visceral commissures are crossed, 'producing an S-shaped 

 loop ; sexes separate ; heart behind the gill ; a shell almost always developed, and 

 with few exceptions provided with an operculum. 



The Streptoneura, or Prosobranchiates as they are often called, constitute by 

 far the largest group of Gastropods, and comprise at least 20,000 living and 

 fossil species. The shell is usually spiral, .more rarely symmetrical, saucer- 

 shaped or conical. The intestinal sac is twisted from left to right, so that 

 the anal opening is placed on the right side near the head, and the organs 

 normally belonging to the right side (kidneys and gills) migrate over to the 

 left. As a rule, one only (the right) of the lamellar gills is fully developed, 

 but in some cases the two are of equal size. The gill veins enter anteriorly 

 into the single or double-auricled heart. 



The large number of Prosobranchiates have been variously classified. 

 Cuvier, Milne Edwards, and most of the older zoologists laid emphasis upon 

 the number and formation of the gills ; Troschel and Loven upon the char- 

 acters of the radula ; von Ihering upon the nervous system ; Morch and more 

 recently Perrier and Bouvier upon the structure of the heart. As none of 

 these characters leave a marked impress upon the shell, they are without 

 practical value in Paleontology. Nevertheless, the two orders Aspidohranchia 

 and Cfenobranchia form natural groups, and are recognised, albeit under 

 different names, in all classificatory systems. 



Order 1. ASPIDOBRANCHIA Schweigger. 



(Gyclobranchia and Scutibrancliia Cuvier.) 



Nervous system not much concentrated anteriorly ; a penis generally absent ; radula, 

 multiserial. 



This group includes most Paleozoic Gastropods, and is regarded as the most 

 primitive expression of the class. The nervous system and radula are of low, decidedly 

 generalised type, and in some families two symmetrical ctenidia or gills are developed, 

 as in Pelecypods. 



Suborder A. DOCOGLOSSA Troschel. Limpets. 



{Gyclobranchia pars Cuvier ; Heterocardia Perrier.) 



Symmetrical, icith conic or bowl-shaped non-spiral shells, or ivith spiral shells coiled 

 in the same plane ; operculum wanting. Organs of resjnration represented either by a 

 ring of laminae {secondary or pallicd gills) beneath the mantle margin, or by a comb- 

 shaped true gill in front, anterior to the heart, or by both true and secondary gills. 

 Tongue set with peculiar modified teeth. Heart with one auricle. Marine. Cambrian 

 to Eecent. 



The impression of the adductor muscle in the shell cavity is horseshoe-shaped, 

 open in front. In the family Tryblidiidae, the horse-shoe is broken into numerous 

 separate impressions. The three families Patellidae, Acmaeidae and Lepetidae have 

 the impression uninterrupted, and are distinguished by the structure of the gills. The 



