Top-shells and Pheasant-shell 205 



ey Top-shel 



deal in appearance according to its habitat ; those 

 living on the rocks between tide-marks resembling 

 our figure, but when living upon 

 oar-weed below the littoral zone it 

 is much more depressed. There 

 are 6 or 7 whorls ; the lower ones 

 flattened and the upper ones 

 rounded. There are a few thread- 

 like ridges on the body - whorls. 

 The ground colour is light gre}^, overlaid with crowded 

 oblique streaks of dark purple-brown. The umbilicus 

 is small and narrow, somewhat one-sided. It is very 

 widely distributed all along our shores. Its height 

 is half an inch, and its breadth a little more. 



The Swollen Top-shell {T. turn, id us) is solid, 

 6 or 7 whorls less convex than in the 

 presenting a turreted appearance : spiral ribs 



and numerous. Umbilicus large and one-sided 



the 

 last, 

 flne 

 The 



colour is white or yellow, overlaid with spiral rows 

 of red-brown spots. The mouth oblique, with a 

 slight tubercle in the middle of the inner lip. 

 About one-third of an inch in height and of similar 

 breadth. It is rather common and widely distributed, 

 occurring in the laminarian zone and deeper water 

 down to 95 fathoms. 



The Painted Top-shell (T. r)iagus) is a very 

 distinct species, the shape of the three 

 largest of the 8 whorls giving the solid 

 shell a decidedly turreted appearance. 

 A number of irregular ridges run 

 spirally round the shell, and these are 

 broken up into little knobs. A more 

 runs round the base of the shell. 



Painted Top 



prominent 



ridge 



