168 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AXB PRODUCTIOys. 



Htdkocexa fbateexa, Theob. ct Stol. Chouktalon. South of Maulmain. 



„ ILLEX, B. Phaithan Hill, Tenasserim. 



,, LiEATCLA, stol. Dauiathat and Toungtalon Hills. 



,, PTXis, B. Tondoung, Thayet-myo. 



,, Rawesluva, B. Farm Caves, ilaulmain. 

 Xeritixa, Lamarck. 



The Xeriiinas are mainly inhabitants of fresh or brackish waters and in Burma 

 are particularly fine and numerous within the tidal portion of its streams. The}- aic 

 often externally coated with a lustrous glaze, deposited on tliem by running water, 

 which entirely conceals and disguises their true colour and is not easy to remove. 

 Their spire is often much eroded from the excess of carbonic acid in the water wherein 

 they reside, as is the case with Melatiia and Unio from a like cause. 



stones or the bottoms of boats in salt or brackish water. 



,, oEBicrxA-Eis, Sow. Andamans. 



Family Trocliidse. 



*Phasia>'ella lixeolata. Gray. 

 * ,, text'eicosa (?) Quoy. 



Sui-Family TCKBIXIX^. 

 TuEBO, Zinneeus. 



Shell top-shaped. Aperture subcircular. Smooth. Operculum convex without, 

 shelly, with a horny base displaying a ' scar ' of attachment. 



The operculum is usually smooth outside, but is sometimes warty, as in T. 

 sarmaticus, L., the operculum of which is actually figured in one of the Bridgcwater 

 treatises as the ' epiphragm ' of ITelix pomatias, the edible snail of Southern Europe ! 

 The loose opercula of the larger Turbos were a source of wonder and perplexity to 

 the earlier naturabsts, by whom they were named ' Venus navels,' from the noatlj- 

 coiled snub little twist of their muscular scars. Now-a-days we have grown much 

 too delicate to tolerate even a ' simile ' borrowed from the anatomy of a goddess, but 

 this refinement in our tastes can hardly be held to have extended to our ' morals,' as 

 our tables unblushingly display the advertisements of artists, in every branch of what 

 a Chinaman would designate as the 'lie business' of personal decoration, from "curled 

 fringes" to "dress-improvers" {'pseudo-pgga'), and all the rest of it, with copious 

 illustrations at which our so-called cours<ir ancestors would have blushed. 



