114 THE INDIAN CHANK SHELL. 



By the use of this compound it is possible to stain objects, 

 which after mounting in Balsam have become so transparent as to 

 be scarcely visible. All that is necessary is to place the slide in a 

 dish containing turpentine, to which some of the stain has been 

 added, and allow it to remain there till the balsam is softened, and 

 the stain has penetrated and done its work, when the turpentine 

 can be readily replaced by more balsam. In this way I have 

 stained slides of embryonic tissues which had been mounted 

 several years, and which were almost invisible, except in special 

 lights. After two days' soaking the whole of the structures were 

 brought out splendidly, every detail being perfectly clear. 



Zbc 3nbian Cbanh* Sbell, 



XTuibinella ip^ruin {Lamarck). 



By the Rev. Charles Crawshaw (of Yorkshire 



Naturalists' Union). 



IN shape and size this interesting shell may be compared to* a 

 large and symmetrically-grown pear, the long, straight canal 

 corresponding to the stalk of the fruit. In the earlier stages 

 of its growth a few reddish spots are scattered over the body- 

 whorl, but in adult specimens these spots disappear, and the whole 

 shell becomes of an ivory whiteness, and the interior is of a pale 

 yellow or light salmon colour, and upon the central pillar are 

 three strongly-marked denticulations. 



Turbhiella pyriiin is found at a depth of two or three fathoms 

 in all the Indian seas, and is particularly abundant in the waters 

 yielding the pearl oyster. It is occasionally imported into 

 Calcutta from the Arabian and Persian Gulfs ; but the Gulf of 

 Manaar, on the west coast of Ceylon, has furnished the market 

 with four or five millions of shells in a single year. All these 

 were procured by the divers with the animal attached, for the 

 merchants will not purchase the dead shells which are sometimes 

 cast by the surf upon the shores. 



* Pronounced as if written "Shunk." 



