STRO]\IBUS. 



Genus STROMBUS, Unncmis. 



Testa riniic conica vel ovata, nunc f/mformi-turrUu, unfrac- 

 libus sapissime tulerculatis vel nodatis, bast trmwatd 

 vel recurvd, colimielld lavi, plerumque callosd, inter- 

 dum corrngatd, labro in alam ant simpUcem aid loba- 

 tam plus minus ampliato, prope basin late sinuato, 

 a^iei-turd plenmque corrugatd, basi emarghiatd. Oper- 

 culum corncimi, panmn, antice afleimaium. 



Shell sometimes conical or ovate, sometimes fusifonnly 

 turreted, whorls most frequently tubercled or no- 

 duled, truncated or recurved at the base, columella 

 smooth, generally callous, sometimes wrinkled, lip 

 more or less enlarged into a simple or lobed wing, 

 broadly sinuated near the base, aperture mostly 

 wrinkled, emarginated at the base. Operculum 

 homy, small, attenuated anteriorly. 



The genus Strombus comprises those species of the 

 winged family, Alain, in which the expanded wing-like 

 lip is simple, not developed into channelled claws. The 

 shell is convoluted, broad, and compact, with a short 

 spire, as in S. gaUatiis, or with the spire acuminated into 

 a tall pyramid, as in S. Thersites. Again, it is strictly 

 conical, as in S.fasciatus, or drawn out into an elongated 

 spindle, as in S. viitatus. The expanded wing-like lip is 

 the principal seat of specific character. Eveiy species has 

 its peculiar condition of lip, varying in form, sculpture, 

 and colour. The principal variation in the form of the 

 Up is in the upper, or rather hinder, part, which is widely 

 flatly spread, as in -S'. Goliat/i and epidromis ; prolonged 

 into a channelled lobe, as in S. gallus and triconiis ; into 

 a short finger-shaped lobe, as in S. auris-Diaiia and Nova- 

 Zelaiidiee ; or crested, as in 5". laciaiatiis ; whilst in some 

 species, as S. bidbulus and Samuremis, the lip is expanded 

 in the lower or fi'ont part. 



The chief pecidiarity in the sculpture of this genus lies 

 in the apertm'e and columella, which are mostly wrinkled 

 or granulated. The Stnmbi are generally heavily tuber- 

 cled or noduled round the upper part of the whorls, and, 

 as in the Volutes, the tubercles or nodules are more or 

 less developed in diiferent individuals of the same species. 

 The Stnmbi are brilliantly coloured, the most character- 

 istic varieties of colour residing in the aperture, that is, on 

 the columella and on the inner surfiice of the expanded lip. 



The whorls of the shell are not always convoluted sym- 

 melricallv. In S. gMnndiia and MimritiuHus, for exam- 



ple, the spire shows the whorls to be very rudely lodged 

 one upon the other in the process of convolution. The 

 first few whorls of most of the species have a small varix 

 deposited at intervals, but this, instead of increasing in 

 size and regidarity with the growth of the shell, as in 

 Murex or Triton, gradually disappears. The varix is one 

 of those characters which, being a prominent feature in 

 the allied family of Canal'iferu, exists here only in a rudi- 

 mentary form. 



The habitats of all the Strombi are known, with the ex- 

 ception of the large S. Goliath and the little 5. hamastoma. 

 By far the greater portion inhabit the eastern world ; 

 twenty-sLx out of fifty-three species were collected by Jlr. 

 Cuming at the Philippine Islands. Of these, two, S. ca- 

 uarimn and Sibbaldli, are found also at Ceylon, and one, 

 'S'. rugosus, was collected by Sir E. Belcher on the shores of 

 Korea. Another Philippine species, S.Jloridiis, inhabits 

 also the Society Islands ; a fourth, S. elegans, is found 

 also on the shores of the Red Sea ; and two species, S. 

 iircens and variabilis, range southward to North Australia. 

 As in the genus Con?is, the Philippine Strombi are all of 

 small size, with the single exception of the fine S. lalissi- 

 Mus. There are no Strombi in the ^lediterranean, or in 

 any part of the Atlantic north of the West Indies and 

 Cape de Verd Islands ; but a fine species, -S". Japonicus, 

 of a type inhabiting the Philippine Islands, is recorded 

 from Japan, in the geographic latitude of the southern 

 shores, but in the isothermal latitude of the northern 

 shores, of the MediteiTanean. As in the case of many 

 genera which are so abundantly and typicaUy represented 

 among the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, there is no 

 species on either side of South America below the equator, 

 with the singiJar exception of the fine S. gramdatus from 

 the Gallapagos Islands. The fine large S. Peruviatms is 

 from the Bay of Caraccas. Six species, inhabiting the 

 shores of the West Indies, are all of large size, and one of 

 these, )S'. tricornis, as in the case of the Olives, occurs also 

 in the Red Sea. Another West Indian species, S.pugilis, 

 is represented in the Gulf of Mexico adjoining, by the 

 S. alutus, and at Panama by S. gradlior. The only other 

 American species is the fine large S. gaUalus from the 

 Gulf of Nicoiya. The only Strombi recorded from the 

 African coast are two from Zanzibar, -S". variabilis and 

 columbtt, one identical in species with the same from the 

 Philippine Islands, the other of a similar type. One 

 species, S.maculatus,\% reported from the Sandwich Islands; 



.laiuuiry, 18,U. 



