8 TRITON. 



exceptional advantages can hope to acquire a competent knowl- 

 edge of the names in use in a single department, and no one 

 possesses the time or acquaintance with general zoology Avhich 

 would be necessary to avoid duplications. The alternative adop- 

 tion of tlie name Tritonium has its difficulties: it is more gener- 

 ally known in connection with a Buceinoid group, and it is too 

 close to Cuvier's genus Tritoiiiu. 



Reeve says* : The Tritons areshells ol much more solid structure 

 than the Murices or Ranelhe, and of much more simple growth. 

 They are not furnished with any spines nor have they any rami- 

 fied branches like the Murices ; the rude manner in which the 

 whorls are convoluted seem rather to indicate that their animal 

 inhabitant, though possessing abundant power of calcification, is 

 of somewhat sluggish growth. The epidermis of the Tritons is 

 often i-emarkably thick, hairy anil bristly, and is sometimes 

 accompanied with small tufts of bristles. Another curious pecu- 

 liarity in these shells is the structure of the apex ; it appears in 

 numerous instances to be formed of horn}- substance, thinly 

 plated with shelly matter, and it is not an iincommon thing to 

 find examples in which tlie calcareous plating is broken off so as 

 to expose the horny cast underneath. Tlie columella of the 

 Tritons is generally covered with a bright coat of wrinkled 

 enamel, and the outer lip becomes thickened in a manner exceed- 

 ingly curious ; upon arriving at uiaturity the lip curls under so 

 as to form a deep, broiid channel or gutter, and this is then filled 

 up to form the thickened lip. The varices are all constructed in 

 the same manner, each forming for a time the margin of the 

 a|)erture ; they are destined, it is conjectured, to protect the li}) 

 during a season of rest, and it would be extremely interesting if 

 it could be discovered what length of time ordinarily elapses 

 between the formation or deposit of the varix and the renewal 

 of the operatiou of growth. 



Mr. Arthur Adamst mentions the adaptation of the Trumpet- 

 shell ( T. triioais) to the purposes of a tea-kettle by the inhabitants 

 of the Typinsan archipelago, near the Loo-Choo Islands; the 

 opercubnn forming the lid. the canal answering the ]iurpose of a 



* Conch. Icon., Vol. II, Triton, 1844. 

 f Narrative Voy. Samarang, I, 89. 



