MUREX. 487 
the proboscis, which itself is enclosed in a case, and consists of 
two pale fleshy lobes, supported by very thin corneous plates, 
between which the tongue is fixed, and after passing the extent 
of the proboscidal tube, it forms a coil of four or five turns, 
immediately behind its posterior part; it is narrow, white, 
spiny, and about half an inch long; under the coil is the 
cerebral cordon embracing the cesophagus, formed of about 
eight suboval yellow ganglions. There are two branchial 
plumes, one large and pale brown, the other minute, linear, 
and of a much darker hue ; they have the arterial vessel in the 
centre, and are fixed as in the congeneric species; then are 
seen the mucous fillets which furnish the material for the 
capsules of the ova: the rectum and ovarium, with the canal 
of the viscous sac, debouche on the right side. The stomach 
is enormous, and always found filled with a tenacious mass of 
pulp ; the ovarium is yellowish-white, mixed up with the liver, 
which is of a dark brownish-green, occupying, with either 
the ovarium or testis, the posterior whorls of the shell to the 
apex. ‘The sexes are distinct: the male organe générateur 
differs from the ridged, grooved, spatulate and double-pointed 
appendages of some of the Murices, in being smaller, flatter, 
less pointed and more strap-shaped. This detailed account of 
these organs will not be repeated, as they are essentially the 
same in all the Murices. 
This section, I believe, contams only the British species 
now described. It is common everywhere, and rarely extends 
its habitat beyond the littoral zone. 
Sectio V.—Testa tumida, granuloso-plicata vel levis. Canalis obliquo- 
dorsali-brevissimus. Apertura ovalis. Columella striata, in plicam 
intorta. Operculum corneum. 
Nassa, Lamarck et Auct. 
M. reticunatus, Linnzeus. 
Buecinum reticulatum, Montagu. 
Nassa reticulata, Lamarck et Brit. Moll. iii. p. 388, pl. 108. f. 1, 2; 
(animal) pl. L.L. f. 3. 
Animal spiral. Mantle of very thin texture, not extending 
beyond the aperture, except that portion of it styled the 
