TRITON. 



Genus Triton, De Montford. 



Testa ovata, vel oblonga, vel elongata, irregulariter vari- 

 cosa, varicibus interdum decern out duodecim, raris- 

 simi pluribus, interdum perpaucis, subsolitariis, in- 

 terdum nullis ; spird prominuld, plus minusve elato. 

 acuminata ; anfractibus siepissime irregulariter con- 

 volutis, vari'e costatis, costis nunc lavibus, nunc no- 

 dulosis, nunc tuberculatis ; columelld plerumque pli- 

 cato-rugosd, labro intiis denticulato, sap'e crenato ; 

 canali variabili, interdum brerissimo, interdum elon- 

 gata, plus minusve ascendente. Operculum corneum. 



Shell ovate, oblong, or elongated, irregularly varicose, 

 varices sometimes ten or twelve in number, very 

 rarely more, sometimes very few, remote from each 

 other, sometimes none ; spire prominent, more or 

 less elevately acuminated ; whorls for the most 

 part irregularly convoluted, variously ribbed, ribs 

 either smooth, nodulous, or tuberculated ; colu- 

 mella generally plicately wrinkled ; lip denticulated 

 within, often crenated ; canal extremely variable, 

 sometimes very short, sometimes very long, more 

 or less turned upwards. Operculum horny. 



The genus Triton includes a large portion of that ex- 

 tensive and beautiful series of varicose Canalifera which 

 are systematically divided according to the number and 

 general arrangement of the varices. The Murices are 

 those which present the greatest number of varices ; 

 the Ranel/a those which deposit a varix at every half 

 volution, one under the other on each side of the shell ; 

 and the Tritons are those in which the periodical deve- 

 lopment of a varix occurs less than twice on a whorl, or 

 but seldom ; so that the genus under consideration in- 

 cludes not only species with one varix on each whorl, 

 but species which have a varix on the last whorl only. 

 Some species are found occasionally without a varix at 

 all, the Triton clandestine for example, but this is 

 merely a fortuitous variation of growth. To be a Triton, 

 the species must have the property of depositing a varix, 

 though it may not always be exercised. 



Such is the arrangement of the varix-depositing Ca- 

 nalifera in popular use ; the beautiful chain of affinity, 

 however, which exists between the Triton with one 

 varix, and the Murex with many, passing through seve- 

 ral well-defined groups, has induced various suggestions 

 of amendment. De Montford and Schumacher propose, 

 on the one hand, that each particular group of Tritons 

 should rank as a genus (Persona, Aquillus, Lotoria, Ra- 

 nularia, Lampusia, ex. gr.), whilst Pfeiffer, on the other 



hand, unites the Tritons and the Ranellee in one and the 

 same genus. To those who would acquire notoriety 

 by the creation of genera, the Tritons offer peculiar 

 temptation ; it should be remembered, however, that the 

 ends of classification may be fully carried out by means 

 of concise sectional subdivision : the changes introduced 

 by those authors cannot be maintained without sub- 

 verting the names in general use, (destroying, as it were, 

 the medium of circulation,) and I therefore adopt the 

 genus Triton of Lamarck and Deshayes without altera- 

 tion even in the title. 



Several modern authors, chiefly continental, amongst 

 whom may be mentioned Quoy and Gaimard, Gray, 

 Philippi, Menke, Pfeiffer and Anton, have adopted C'u- 

 vier's title of Trilonium in reference to this genus, be- 

 cause of its priority over Lamarck's name on the one 

 hand, and on account of the pre-application of the word 

 Triton on the other. 



The word Triton is, however, by far the more gene- 

 rally received title of the genus under consideration, and 

 I think the following statement will serve to establish the 

 propriety of maintaining it. 



Tritonium should be abandoned for two reasons : 

 first, because it was used towards the latter part of the 

 eighteenth century, both by Mviller in his ' Zoologia? 

 Danicae Prodromus,' and by Fabricius in his ' Fauna 

 Grcenlandica,' in reference to a miscellaneous group of 

 shells, not one of which belongs to the genus Tritonium 

 of Cuvier (Triton, Lamarck) : they were principally 

 Fusi and Buccina, and amongst others included the Fusus 

 antiquus, Fusus despee/us, Buccinum undatum, Buciinum 

 glaciale, Purpura lapillus, &c. ; and secondly, the word 

 Tritonia (differing only in termination) was applied by 

 Cuvier to a genus of naked nudibranchiate Gastropods, 

 and is still universally acknowledged by malacologists. 



Triton may be very properly used : because, although 

 Linnaeus applied it to a Lepas, which he thought to be 

 new as having no shell, it had been used in error, as the 

 following note by Cuvier himself from the latest edition 

 of the ' Regne Animal ' ( 1S30) will testify :— " Linnaeus 

 supposant qu'il existe aussi de ces cirrhopodes sans co- 

 quilles, leur donnait alors le nom de Triton ; mais l'exis- 

 tence de ces Tritons dans la nature ne s'est pas confirmee, 

 et Ton doit croire que Linnaeus n'avait vu qu'un animal 

 d'Anatife arrache de sa coquille." I must admit, how- 

 ever, that it was extremely injudicious, to say the least of 

 it, on the part of Lamarck to select a name which had 

 been introduced, though erroneously, by Linnaeus in 

 another part of the system. 



