144 BUCCINIDA. 
produced and slightly deflected; aperture elongate, labrum 
simple; labium incrusted with a thin, smooth plate; suture 
bordered by an elevated portion of the succeeding whorl as in 
Clavella. It differs from Clavella in the very short spire and in 
the short and slightly curved canal. 
SuspraMity BUCCININEE. 
Bucoinum, Linnzeus. 
Htym.— Buccina, a trumpet. 
Syn.—Tritonium, Fabr. Halia, Macgill. 
Distr.—22 sp. Arctic and boreal seas; low water to 100 fath- 
oms. B. undatum, Linn. (1, 27, 28). 
Shell ovate or oblong, covered with a horny epidermis ; spire 
elevated, apex acute ; aperture large, oval, emarginate in front ; 
canal wide, very short, or a mere oblique truncation of the base 
of the aperture ; columella smooth; inner lip expanded; outer 
lip usually thin, smooth internally. Operculum ovate, nucleus 
small near the outer front edge. 
The group of shells to which the generic name Buccinum was 
originally applied,a century ago, by Linnzeus, has been found by 
subsequent investigation to contain many heterogeneous forms, 
and has consequently been greatly subdivided. The name has 
been retained for the genus typified by Buceinum undatum, by 
common consent, and, I believe, in accordance with the best rules 
of nomenclature. It is true that Linneus’ first species—that 
which is to be selected, as in cases where no type is distinctly 
specified—is a Dolium. But in the case of Linneus’ genera, he 
must be considered to have indirectly specified the type, as he 
has expressly stated that, in his view, where it becomes necessary 
to divide a group, formerly supposed to be one genus, the 
original name must be retained for the subdivision containing 
the most common species; in other words, that the most common 
species must be considered as the type of its genus. And he 
must therefore have regarded the B. undatum, the most common 
of all his Buccinums, as the type of the genus. 
The Scandinavian naturalists have generally retained the name 
Tritonium of Miller for this genus, but Linneeus’ name has pri- 
ority by many years Tritonium,as proposed, and as frequently 
used since, would include both the Murex and the Buccinum of 
Linneus. 
The genus Buccinum is restricted geographically to the tem- 
perate and frigid seas of the northern hemisphere. Geologically, 
the history of the genus commences in the Pliocene formation. 
They are found in the European tertiary deposits of that age, 
even as far south as the shores of the Mediterranean. They 
become very numerous in the Pleistocene deposits, both of 
