96 INTEODTJCTION TO CONCHOLOGY. 



The animal carries a horny operculum at the hinder 

 extremity of a stout_, tliick^ oval, and pointed disc, that fits 

 exactly to the aperture of the shell. The head is large, 

 bifurcated in front into two elongated tentacles, at the 

 outer base of which are the eyes ; the mouth is armed with 

 a cylindrical trunk, and a somewhat long respiratory siphon 

 adds to the singularity of the creature^s aspect. 



The E. sp'irata and Zeylanica are found abundantly in 

 Ceylon ; those selected for illustration in the ' Elements of 

 Conchology '' are from Japan, and of great rarity. 



The Latin word Buccimmif a trumpet, w^as indiscrimi- 

 nately applied by the ancients to every kind of spiral uni- 

 valve shell. Linnseus adopted the term in a more restricted 

 sense ; but we owe to Lamarck a dividing of the Biiccina 

 into several acknowledged genera. 



Larger species of the genus Bucchmm are still used by 

 Italian herdsmen in directing the movements of their 

 cattle, and a variety of sonorous sounds may thus be readily 

 produced. They are also common in North Wales, where 

 I have often heard their deep and hollow sounds breaking 

 on the silence of those alpine districts, when used by the 

 farmers in calling to their labourers. Triton, Neptune^s 

 trumpeter, is generally pictured with a shell of this de- 



