340 NATICID.E. 



held up to the light will be found to be filled with little cells ar- 

 ranged in quincunx order. Each of these cells contains a gelatinous 

 egg, having a yellow nucleus, which is the embryo shell. It is found 

 plentifully at midsunnner, on every sandy flat where any species of 

 Naticidce resorts. It has passed under many names, and its true 

 nature seems to have been first suspected by Mr. Boys, who gave 

 a description and plate of it in the "Linngean Transactions," Vol. V. 

 230, ])1. 10. In tlie fourteenth volume of the same work Mr. Hogg 

 fully demonstrated its character, by hatching, from those found on 

 the English coast, the young of Natica s^Iauciria. 



To show what a puzzle it has been, I will add some of its names 

 found in books. 



Flustra arenosa, Ellis, Zooph. and also his Corallines, pi. 25, fig. e. 



Flustre areneuse, Lamouroux, Polyp, flex. Ill, No. 220. 



Flustre anmacee, Blainv. Diet, des Sc. Nat., and Man. d'Aetinol. 446. 



Eschara lutosa, Pallas, El. Zooph. 37, No. 5. 



Eschara millcpora arenosa Anylira, Ray, Syn. 31. 



Alci/oninm nrenosum, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. iv. 6.54. — Shaw, Nat. Miscell. t. 272. 



Discopora cribruni, Lam. An. sans Vert. ii. 250. 



Lunatia triseriata. 



EiG. 165. 



Shell ovate-globose, Avhorls five, usually checkered with three series of dark 

 spots on the lower whorl, and one on the upper whorls ; umbilicus small, nearly 

 free. 



Natica triseriata. Say, Jonrn. Acad. Nat. Sc. v. 209. — Gould, Inv. 1st cd. 2.33. — Db 

 K.A.Y, N. Y. Moll. 121, pi. 7, fig. 144. — Piiilippi, pi. 1, fig. 6. 



Shell ovate, ajiproaching to globular, of a yellowish-white or ash 

 color; whorls five, convex, lines of growth distinct, and usually cov- 

 ered with a thin, yellowish epidermis ; lower Avhorl 

 has three revolving series of twelve to fourteen 

 bluish or dark chestnut colored, oblique spots, 

 usually of a square or oblong form, and some- 

 times crescent-shaped ; the upper one just below 

 the suture ; the middle one is divided liy the junc- 

 tion of the lip, and the third is half-way between 

 it and the umbilicus ; the upper one is continued on all the whorls, 

 but the next one disappears soon ; the spaces between the spots 

 often appear like whitish bands, and the sutural region is of the 

 same color; spire considerably elevated, sutural line delicate; aper- 

 ture ovate, lip sharp and white within ; a thick white callus co\ers 



