76 INTRODrCTION TO CO>XHOLOGY. 



The genus becomes more numerous and varied in colour 

 as we approach the equatorial seas. Mr. Adams relates that 

 they seem to prefer fissures and holes in marine rocks, espe- 

 cially among coral reefs, living in v/arm shallow pools witliin 

 the barrier, where, although slow-mo\dng, they lead a pre- 

 datory life, — robbers of the ocean, — that bore into their 

 neighbours^ shells for the purpose of extracting the juices 

 on which life depends. They crawl but slowly, and usually 

 with their tentacles in a straight line before them, and yet, 

 though robber-like, are very timid, and shrink within their 

 shells on the approach of danger. Some affect deep water ; 

 and one was dredged by the natm-alists of the Samarang, in 

 the Sunda Straits, in thirty fathoms; another, the Conus 

 thalassiar chics, at Sooloo, in about forty fathoms. 



This beautifnl genus predominates in the Asiatic region, 

 where upwai'ds of one hundred and twenty species are ascer- 

 tained as peculiar ; while only two or three are known in 

 Europe, about twenty in Africa, thirty in Australia, and 

 fifty in America. Some few are venomous ; the Conus aidicus 

 — with its beautiful proboscis of red and white — is capable 

 of inflicting a severe bite, accompanied by sharp pain, 

 making a small, deep, triangular mark, succeeded by a watery 

 vesicle. Sir Edward Belcher was bitten by one of these 



