162 VOLUTIDA. 
Famity VOLUTID %®. 
Shell turreted, aperture notched in front, columella obliquely 
plaited; no operculum in the larger species. Animal with 
recurved siphon, foot very large, partly hiding the shell, eyes 
on the tentacles or near their bases. Dentition (x, 7). 
Cympium, Klein. 
Boat-shell. Syn.—Yetus, Gray. 
Distr.—5 sp. W. Mediterranean, W. Coast of Africa. (C. 
proboscidale, Lam. (lili, 4; i, 15). 
Shell oval-oblong, ventricose, thin; spire short, nucleus large, 
globular, forming an obtuse papillary apex; whorls few, forming 
a flat edge around the nucleus; aperture oblong, wide; columella 
with several oblique plaits; outer lip thin, simple. 
The animal is large, compared to the size of the shell, when 
expanded. The foot partially covers the shell, which is sunk 
into its substance. There is no operculum. Ovoviviparous, the 
young when born being of a large size and covered with a shell 
with a large irregular callous apex. They leave the parent 
when they have attained a length of about an inch, the brood 
appearing to consist of four or five individuals. Adanson 
observes that the high winds of April cast the “ yet” up in such 
vast quantities as sometimes to cover the shore, the natives of 
Senegal using them as food. 
Cymbium is separated from Melo by its flat or slightly chan- 
neled shoulder and want of coronal spines. When fresh, the 
epidermis is more or less covered by a thin glaze deposited by 
the enveloping mantle. 
Meto, Humphrey. 
Distr.—10 sp. Indian Ocean, Australia, ete. MM. tessellata, 
Lam. (liii, 5). 
Shell large, subovate, ventricose, thin; spire short, apex 
obtuse, papillary, persistent; whorls smooth, the last posteriorly 
coronated ; aperture oblong, wide; columella with several oblique 
plaits, the anterior the largest ; outer lip simple, acute, obliquely 
truncate in front. No operculum. 
The apex of the shell is spiral, regular, very different from the 
shapeless apex of Cymbium. This genus, like Cymbium, is 
ovoviviparous, the young ones being arranged in the oviduct of 
the female in a long string, without egg-shells. 
Vouuta, Linn. 
Syn.—V olutolyria, Crosse. Scaphella, Swains. Scapha, Gray. 
Distr.—About 75 sp. Indian Ocean, Japan, Alaska, Australia, 
Eastern Polynesia, Atlantic Coasts of Southern South America, 
to West Indies, Southern Africa, ete. No species exist in the 
