74 I2s^TR0DUCTI0N TO CONCHOLOGY. 



Among the most interesting of these are the Cones, whose 

 similarity of form constitutes a natural and well-defined 

 group; for any difference of structure consists chiefly in 

 the depression or elevation of the spire, the thinness or infla- 

 tion of the whorls, and in the spiral edges being either plain 

 or coronated. Striking variations, however, occasionally 

 happen ; and it must be borne in mind, that such are com- 

 mon to different individuals of the same species. Some^ 

 for example, are found with the spire at one time plain, 

 at another, coronated; and the surface of many, in like 

 manner, is either smooth or granulated. 



The Cones mostly inhabit deep water, and nearly all are 

 tropical; they essentially require a warm region, and hence 

 only 07ie or two are found so far north as the Mediterranean. 

 Like all tropical Fauna, they present a vivid colouring, and 

 their decorations are of exquisite workmansliip. The mol- 

 luscous inhabitant of the Conus gloria-mans^ or the Glory 

 of the Sea, is, apparently, endowed with an astonishing inge- 

 nuity of design. The wliite ground of its turbinated and 

 cylindrical shell is covered with the finest possible triangular 

 lines, of a deUcate dull reddish hue, and encircled with 

 blotched bands of exquisite tinting. The Orange Admiral 

 Cone, C. aurisiacus, zoned with white and rose-colour, and 



