168 PECTINIBRANCHIATA.—CYPRAEADA. 
more of the character of the genus, the outer lip 
beginning to be bent in, or rather thickened, and 
the mantle beginning to 
secrete and to deposit 
the coat of enamel, 
which is studded with 
white spots. The figure 
displays this state: the 
spire is sinking behind 
the elevated lips, which 
are thickening; while 
the spotted coat is seen 
at one side, creeping 
along over the back of 
the shell, which it is 
destined to cover. 
At length the thick- 
ening of the lips proceeds 
to such an extent as 
almost to conceal the 
spire, and to reduce the 
aperture to a narrow 
line, the edges of which 
are now thickly plaited with the tooth-like ridges 
so characteristic of the genus. The lobes of the 
mantle protrude through this aperture, and ex- 
panding on each side, have deposited all over the 
exterior of the shell a coat of glassy enamel, 
studded with pale round spots, which entirely con- 
ceals the transverse bands that were formerly visible 
across it. ‘The appearance, therefore, is now such 
as is represented in the following figures, which 
most of my readers will readily recognise as those 
of a familiar shell. 
The deposition of enamel is the last process of 
HALF-GROWN COWRY. 
