J 



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



Buccinum undatum, Linn. 



The coasts of Northumberland and Durham yield four di- 

 stinctly marked varieties of this shell, three of which it is my in- 

 tention to consider separately, and under the following names : 

 Buccinum magnum, B. littoralis and B. pelagica *. 



Variety Buccinum magnum. — The nearest representation I can 

 find of this variety are the figures in the { Encyclopedic Metho- 

 dique/ (pi. 399. fig. 1 a — 1 b). My largest specimen measures 

 4 J inches in length and 2|ths in breadth, and has nine whorls. 

 The spirally corded character of this variety is very striking 

 (though none of my specimens are quite so strongly corded as 

 the figure just referred to) : on the body- whorl the cords are ge- 

 nerally an eighth of an inch apart, but in some specimens they are 

 separated from each other to the extent of a quarter of an inch : 

 the intermediate furrows are occupied with from three to six 

 threads. 



The canal is short and wide, and both sides are of equal length, 

 and its terminal margin is strongly reflected. The waves are 

 rounded ; and it is rare to see them becoming obsolete even on 

 the body-whorl of the largest specimens. The outside of the 

 shell is generally yellowish or reddish white, and the inside is of 

 a milk-white colour. The epidermis is thick, clothy, and of a 

 dirty brown. This variety lives at depths varying from fifteen to 

 forty fathoms, and from its epidermis being generally dirty, there 



* There are now so many names given to shells generally considered to 

 be merely varieties of Buccinum undatum, that I was in hopes of using some 

 of them for those described in the text. I find however that this is im- 

 practicable : for example, Buccinum striatum is generally considered to re- 

 present the thin or deep-water form, but the shell which Pennant describes 

 under this name (vide British Zoology, vol. iv. pi. 74. fig. 91), as remarked 

 long ago by Dr. Turton (vide British Fauna, p. 171), is " without the undulate 

 ribs;" in short, it does not possess the specific characteristic of Buccinum 

 undatum — the waves ; it is simply longitudinally plicated. As this is not 

 general (exceptions occasionally occur) to any of the varieties on our coasts, 

 I am consequently prevented using the name "striatum." With reference 

 to the name Buccinum Donovani,(*ray ', this has been given to a shell which 

 I am disposed to think is merely an elongated form of my B. pelagica, and 

 which occurs only rarely on our coasts : in other localities it may be a more 

 general form; if so, the name may therefore be advantageously retained for 

 it. As to the name Buccinum anglicanum, I confess my inability to decide 

 as to what shell it was originally given. On the whole then it seems pre- 

 ferable to make use of new 7iames when there are so many difficulties in the 

 way of adopting the old ones. I am not certain that my names can be ap- 

 plied to varieties found in other localities : the Buccinum undatum sold in 

 London is different from the varieties that I have described : I have a beautiful 

 specimen from some part of Ireland very different from any on our coasts ; it 

 has the waves, but it is decidedly without the spiral cords, being simply 

 striated. I have seen specimens from other localities that cannot be iden- 

 tified with our varieties. 



