ODOSTOMIA. 



147 



Barmouth, Bantry Bay, co. Antrim, Oban, and Shet- 

 land (J. G. J.) ; Dublin Bay (Turton and Kinahan) ; 

 co. Gal way (Barlee) j Clyde district, in nullipore (Nor- 

 man); and Moray Firth (Gordon). Not uncommon. 

 Coralline Crag at Sutton (S. Wood). Departement of 

 Morbihan (Tasle). 



The exquisite latticework of this shell is more than 

 worthy of the following lines attributed to Bishop 



Mant : — 



" These by the microscopic glass 

 Survey'd, you'll see how far surpass 

 The works of nature, in design 

 And texture delicately fine, 

 And perfectness of every part, 

 Each effort of mimetic art." 



Perhaps Adams's description of Turbo pellucidus, to 

 which I formerly referred the present species, may be 

 too vague for identification : it is, " T. quinque anfrac- 

 tibus reticularis, apertura subrotunda. Obs. Color al- 

 bus." It would suit as well a bleached Rissoapunctura. 

 Our shell is the Helix arenaria of Maton and Rackett ; 

 and it is possibly, but little more than guessiugly, 

 Brown's Pyramis spirolinus. If the ' Illustrations of 

 the Recent Conchology of Great Britain and Ireland ' 

 had been written in the seventeenth century, some al- 

 lowance might be made for the abundance of its errors, 

 both of graphic and pictorial delineation ; but it is of 

 modern date. The task of scrutinizing this author's nu- 

 merous ill-defined and often questionable species, and the 

 mental torture caused by hammering at the horrible 

 names which he invented, are enough to give any one 

 not having nerves of catgut a most excruciating head- 

 ache. His stilted and often ungrammatical language, 

 too, hardly suits the present age ; " his words are a very 

 fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes." Why 



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