336 Mr. W. King on some Shells and other Invertebrate Forms 



and F. berniciensis have only been procured from the Coral zone, 

 or where it merges into the Coralline, 



Two of the four varieties I mentioned of Buccinum undatum 

 are remarkable instances illustrating how different depths of 

 water influence modifications of form : the varieties magnum 

 and pelagicum are both from soft ground ; but the former " lives 

 at depths varying from fifteen to forty fathoms/' and conse- 

 quently belongs to the Coralline zone ; the latter lives in from 

 forty to eighty fathoms water, and therefore inhabits the Coral 

 zone. These variations of depth induce a most remarkable dif- 

 ference in the form of this species : thus pelagicum is thin, 

 finely threaded and corded, and in general slightly waved ; it has 

 the spire elongated, the epidermis thin and finely ciliated, and 

 the anterior part of the outer lip expanded beyond the termi- 

 nation of the columella* : whereas magnum is a thicker, a shorter, 

 and a more tumid shell; it is strongly threaded and corded 

 and prominently waved ; its epidermis is thick and clothy ; and 

 its columella extends as far forward as the anterior part of the 

 outer lip. Through the kindness of Mr. Pickering of London, 

 I have lately become possessed of a specimen from Newfoundland, 

 the same as the shell which Dr. Gould identifies with the Buccinum 

 ciliatum of Fabricius : I cannot but consider it as only a variety 

 of B. undatum, and closely allied to pelagicum, if not the same .• 

 it agrees with the latter in being thin, slightly waved, and in 

 having the anterior part of the outer lip expanded beyond the ter- 

 mination of the columella ; but the spire is somewhat less pro- 

 duced, and the whorls are merely threaded : the last character is 

 more strongly marked than in the " simply striated " specimen 

 from Ireland I have spoken of elsewhere (vide Annals, vol. xviii. 

 p. 248). Were I sufficiently acquainted with the Buccinum ci- 

 liatum of Fabricius, and the B. Donovani of Gray, and writing a 

 general account of the varieties of Buccinum undatum, it is 



first discoverer of Fusus Turtoni : this is an omission which remained undis- 

 covered until after my paper was published. 



* It is stated by Mr. Albany Hancock, in his " Notes on Buccinum nn- 

 datum" (vide Annals for March), that his variety 1. "is occasionally very 

 thin and delicate, and has the spire sometimes considerably produced and the 

 whorls much-rounded. The B. undatum of Brown (lUust. Conch. 2nd ed. 

 pi. 3. fig. 2) is an example of the extreme form of this state, which occurs 

 not unfrequently on the Dogger-bank." Variety 1. is the same as my 77ia(/- 

 num (Mr. Hancock's specimens were procured from the Cullercoats' cobles 

 that usually fish in from thirty to forty fathoms water ; occasionally deeper) ; 

 and the " occasionally very thin and delicate " shells referred to belong to 

 my pelagicum, of which hundreds of specimens have now passed through 

 my hands, and all, without exception, were obtained from the Coral zone. 

 The Dogger-bank, which is shallow, and in parts rocky, yields forms as 

 thick and rugged as those inhabiting the Coralline zone. 



