VA PAE OR CONCHO LOGY 
Famity CONIDZ. 
Teeth subulate, in two series, on a tubular prolongation of the 
retractile proboscis, and with a bundle of sharp subulate teeth 
at the extremity; head with a produced tubular veil; tentacles 
subulate; eyes on bulgings of the outer side of the tentacles ; 
mantle enclosed, with an elongated siphon in front; foot simple, 
long and narrow, with a conspicuous aquiferous pore on the 
middle of the anterior part of the sole. 
Operculum unguiform, with apical nucleus. 
Shell inversely conical, with narrow aperture the length of the 
body-whorl, the lip sharp, usually excavated at the hind-part, 
where it joins the suture; epidermis thin and smooth or longi- 
tudinally or spirally ridged, sometimes tufted. 
The great family of Cones, well-characterized by peculiarities 
both of dentition and shell, are principally inhabitants of equa- 
‘torial seas. Haunting the holes and fissures of rocks, and the 
labyrinths of coral-reefs, they lead a predatory life, boring into 
the shells of other mollusks, and sucking the juices from their 
bodies. 
Until recently the classification of Conide given by Messrs. 
H. and A. Adams in their Genera of Recent Mollusca has been 
generally adopted. This classification is given in Structural and 
Systematic Conchology, ii, p. 187, and need not be reproduced 
here. The genera and subgenera are extremely artificial and 
insufficient for the purpose of arranging a large collection, inas- 
much as many of the systematic characters fail to discriminate 
groups when extensive series are compared. Dr. Weinkauff has 
recently (Jahrb. Deutsch. Mal. Gesell., i, 1874) arranged the 
Cones into sections, each named for a characteristic species, 
