131 



CHAPTER XXII. 



BRITISH TOP-SHELLS NOT THE HANDSOMEST. DESCRIPTION OF THE TRIBE. 



TROCHUS. PHASIANELLA. — ADEORBIS. — SCISSURELLA. 



TROCHID^. 



In those tribes of showy moUusca whose fine shells^ " decked 

 in tlie gorgeous livery of nature/' excite so much admiration 

 by their wonderful sculpture and tasteful arrangement of 

 colours, we of these bleak Northern Isles are by no means 

 rich. Though we find our few species of Trochidm described, 

 in books of British Conchology, one as ' this handsome shell/ 

 another ^ this fine shell/ another as ' this beautiful species/ 

 and so forth, these epithets can only be applied in a limited, 

 comparative sense ; for our shells of the TrocJms tribe, al- 

 though pretty compared to those of other tribes, and not 

 altogether without a beauty of their own, must on the whole 

 be considered as rather poor representatives of their tribe. 



