48 Beautiful Shells. 
Mollusks; it is called by naturalists Buccinum un- 
datum; the first, or generic term, being the Latin 
for a trumpet, and the second, or specific name, 
meaning waved, or, as we often say, undulated. 
So we call this the Waved Whelk; fishermen term 

it the Conch, or the Buckie, and tell strange stories 
of its ravenous appetite and murderous propensities; 
how, with its spiny tongue, situated at the end of 
a long flexible proboscis or trunk, it drills a hole in 
the shell of the Oyster, or other testacean, and 
sucks out the contents; empty shells, so drilled, 
are frequently found on the shore, and often, when 
the dredge is let down into an oyster bed, it comes 
up time after time filled with Whelks, of which 
such numbers are sometimes taken, that they are 
sold to the farmers to be used as manure for the 
soil. This mollusk is a favourite article of food 
with the poorer classes of our land, but it is hard 
and indigestible. The shell may frequently be 
found in large numbers among the beach stones ; 
