153 



Pamilj IX. Iaxthinea. 



Smooth as an inland lake, the deep blue sea ; 

 And blue the heavens, for not a cloud doth flit 

 Athwart their dome ! "V\Tiat mimic fleets are these. 

 That seem to ride at anchor on the deep ? 



Animal : head large, prolonged into a short swollen pro- 

 boscis, having a perpendicular mouth, lips thickened and 

 furnished with prickly hooks or plaits, a pair of unequal 

 tentacles on either side and above the neck, the front one 

 shorter, and having, at the outer base, a very small indistinct 

 eye; foot short, with a broad fin-like appendage, and a float 

 of vesicles. Shell globose, turbiniform, thin and brittle, 

 whorls either rounded or inclined to angular at the periphery, 

 columella long and straight, margin at the aperture thin, 

 never reflected. 



Feelings of admiration are associated with the family of 

 lanthinea when recurring to their wonderful construction, 

 and adaptation for a watery element. The beautifully 

 reticulated lung of an air-breathing mollusk is changed 

 into a gill for the respiration of water ; the mouth is singu- 

 larly adapted for the grinding of hard flesh-food of marine 

 origin, which otherwise could not be readily digested ; and 



