548 MOLLUSCA 



TuRRiTELLA Lamaick. Aperture round; shell usually brown, with 

 brownish spots: 75 species; cosmopolitan; mostly in deep water. 



T. acicula Stimpson. Shell small, white, and thin, with 10 whorls, 

 6 mm. long-; 2 mm. wide. Cape Cod to Eastport, Maine, in rather deep 

 water. 



T. variegata (L.). Shell 10 em. long, with 16 flattened whorls; 

 surface variegated with brown and white: Florida and West Indies. 



Family 13. VPJEMETIDAE. 



Shell tubular, irregularly spiral at the apex, with the lower whorls 

 free and extended; interior of shell partitioned off by smooth, concave 

 septa; aperture round; foot rudimentary; head long, with 2 conical ten- 

 tacles with eyes at their base; 2 additional tentacles at the side of the 

 mouth; operculum circular, horny; animals stationary: 120 species, in 

 all temperate and warm seas. 



VERMET.US Adanson. With the characters of the family; shell 

 attached or free: numerous species. 



V. {Vermicularia Lamarck) radicula Stimpson (Fig. 856). Spiral 

 portion with ab:)ut 8 whorls and 12 mm. long, remainder of shell some- 

 times 20 cm. long: Cape Cod to Florida in shallow water, 

 several shells usually intertwined together; common 

 towards the south. 



Family 14. STEOMBIDAE. 



Shell usually large and solid, with a conical spire and 

 a very large lower whorl; aperture long and narrow; lip 

 expanded, sometimes forming digitations, and with a deep 

 notch near the lower edge; foot long and narrow, with a 

 long arched metapodium which bears the small claw- 

 shaped operculum, and used for springing and not for 

 walking; eyes large, at the end of a pair of long stalks; 

 snout long: 100 species, in tropical and subtropical seas; several species 

 in the West Indies and southern states. 



1. Strombus L. Shell ovate, usually with protuberances; lip plain 

 or lobed : 60 species, 5 American. 



S. gigas L. Conch. Lengih 25 cm. and more; weight up to 5 

 pounds; surface rougliened and with protuberances; interior pink: 

 Florida Keys and West Indies; very common; used for food; the shell 

 is used to make cameos and ornaments, and also often as a dinner 

 horn; the largest shell on the Atlantic coast and the largest mollusk 

 in the country. 



