316 NASSID.E. 



Shell solid : spire having a regular nipple-shaped apex : 

 mouth oval : outer lip strengthened by a rib, and furrowed in- 

 side : inner lip expanded and thick, having a small ridge or 

 tooth-like process on the upper part: canal truncated, recurved, 

 and deeply notched : pillar furnished at the base with a single 

 retired plait or fold : operculum ear-shaped or oval, serrated 

 on the outer edge, and occasionally also on the inner edge near 

 the base. 



The animal of N. mutabilis, with its forked tail, w r as 

 w r ell described and figured by Colonna in 1575 : it was 

 in his time esteemed at Naples as a palatable and diges- 

 tible morsel ; and this popular taste is still the same. 



The generic name originated with Klein, but it was 

 properly applied by Lamarck. According to Woodward 

 there are 210 recent, and 19 fossil species ; the latter 

 are comparatively modern. The recent species chiefly 

 inhabit shallow water — although I have taken N. incras- 

 sata living on the shore and at a depth of 90 fathoms, 

 and Capt. Beechey found it dead at 145 fathoms. Bisso, 

 in his unscientific fashion, quadrupled the genus. 



1. Nassa reticulata"*, Linne. 



Buccinum reticidatum, Linn. S. N. p. 1204. N. reticulata, F. & H. iii. 

 p. 388, pi. cviii. f. 1, 2, and (animal) pi. LL. f. 3. 



Body yellowish, mottled with dark brown or sootcolour, 

 sometimes variegated by minute flake-white points : mantle 

 loose about the neck : pallial tube long and narrow : tentacles 

 widely separated by an intermediate flap or head-veil, awl- 

 shaped, long and slender, more than twice as thick below the 

 eyes as above them : eyes small, on the top of rather long 

 stalks, about one-third of the way up the tentacles, and form- 

 ing part of them : foot long and broad, squarish, rounded, or 

 bilobed, and double-edged in front, with triangular and pointed 

 corners, notched behind : caudal appendages short ; when the 

 animal is in motion these are folded back over each side of the 

 notch at the tail : odontopliore rather long ; [rhachis having 



* Eeticulated or net like. 



