32 TEOCHUS. 



own shores, the two commonest, as well as the smallest 

 of which, are the Grey and the Spotted Troclii, scientifically 

 named T. cincranus and T. maculata, the translation of the 

 first Latin specific name being ashy or ash- coloured, and that 

 of the second, spotted. Trochus, in the same language signifies 

 a top, and has reference to the shape of most of these shells, 

 which are something like a boy's whip-top. 



Children on the coast sometimes call the last-named of the 

 above species Pepper-and-salt Shells, because in colour they 

 resemble the cloth so named. The Muddy-red Trochus, {T. 

 zizipla'nus,) so called, perhaps, because in colour it resembles 

 the ziziphia, or fruit of the jujube tree, is also common with 

 us. This shell is about an inch long, of a grey tint dashed 

 Avith dark spots, these follow the line of the spiral turnings, 

 which are very regular, proceeding from the opening below 

 to the apex or point. Seen on shore, its colours are dull and 

 faint, but beneath the water, inhabited by a living mollusk, 

 it looks as though made of pearl, and studded with rubies; 

 the animal, too, is richly coloured, being yellow with black 

 stripes. — See Plate lY, Pig. 3. 



Not so common as the last is another British mollusk of 

 this genus, called the Granulated Trochus, {T. granulatus.) 

 It is the larger, and, as many think, the more elegant shell 

 of the two, being in colour, a faint flesh tint or yellowish 

 white, shaded here and there with purple; the spiral lines 

 which encircle it are composed of small round knobs which 

 stand out like beads. 



There is a singular shell of this genus, called the Carrier 

 Trochus, (T.pJwnis;) it is generally found loaded with foreign 

 objects, such as shells, small stones, bits of coral, etc., which 

 it attaches to itself, and so goes about like a collector of 

 natural curiosities, with his cabinet on his back. 



The Imperial Trochus, [T. imj^erialis,) Pig. 4, whose scientific 

 name explains itself, is one of the handsomest shells of the 

 genus; it is very rare, and has hitherto been found only 

 at jSTew Zealand. Let us give our 5'oung readers a specimen 

 of the way in which scientific writers describe shells; thus, 

 this foreign Trochus, they tell us is ''orbicularly conical, the 

 apex obtuse, the whorls turgidly convex, squamoso radiate at 

 the margin." This is quite a simple affair to some descriptions, 



