PHASIANELLA. 137 



Another, less ambitious, dwells at ease, 

 In some small cell of plain and simple hue. 

 But all and each preserve with jealous care 

 Such forms and emblems as denote their tribe. 



Shell tuberculated, either conical or elongately turricu- 

 lated, sometimes closely, sometimes loosely convoluted ; 

 aperture entire at the base, with no indication of any 

 sinus. 



Mollusks pertaining to this family are distinguished by 

 their less voracious habits, and the tubularly convoluted 

 structure of their shells. They have rarely any proboscis 

 like their carnivorous brethren, most probably because they 

 chiefly feed on vegetable matter, and their shells are less 

 solid, though rarely fragile. 



The genera of this famik, amounting to at least twenty, 

 correspond, in a manner, to the Linnaean Troclms and Turbo, 

 and their shells are mostly lined with an iridescent, pearly 

 nacre. And yet, unlike the Troclms, which exhibits the 

 most beautiful varieties of coloured beaded sculpture, the 

 Phasianella and Bankivia present only a bright array of 

 colour exhibited on a plane surface without the aid of 

 sculpture. The BeljiUnula adorns his shell with a profu- 

 sion of architectural ornaments ; and, in one species, the 



