76 SHELLS AND SHELL-FISH. PART I. 



furnished with distinct plaits on the pillar. 3. The 

 Eburnin^, where the base of the shell is truncate and 

 notched^ the pillar smooth, and the inner lip considerably 

 thickened and spreading, 4. The Pyrulin^, or pear- 

 shells, having the spire short, the pillar smooth and con- 

 vex, and the canal moderate. 5. and lastly, The Fusing, 

 or spindle-shells, slender and delicate, having the canal, 

 as well as the spire, remarkably long, and generally of 

 nearly equal length. As it will subsequently appear 

 that these groups are of the same rank and value as those 

 of the CassincB, we have given them the same termin- 

 ation in ince, although their contents are by no means so 

 numerous as their prototypes. 



(67-) The TuRBiNELLiN^ are remarkable in their 

 typical genus, — -which is Turhinella, — for the excessive 

 heaviness and even the size of their shells, for in this 

 latter respect they almost equal any others of the family. 

 Their surface, although usually smooth, is generally 

 covered with an epidermis : the outer lip is rather thin 

 and simple, but the inner is frequently thickened and 

 margined at its basal half : there are three or four very 

 strong transverse plaits on the pillar, placed nearer to 

 the top than to the bottom of the aperture ; but the 

 uppermost is always largest — not, as in the VolutidcBj 

 the smallest. Like these latter shells, also, the tip of 

 the spire is almost always papillary ; but this part is 

 small, and assumes a very different appearance to that of 

 of the true volutes. The next genus we shall notice — 

 (there being an hiatus in this part of the series, which 

 v^^e shall subsequently advert to) — is Fasciolaria, where 

 the spire is so much lengthened, as to be longer than 

 the canal, — thus reversing the proportion between these 

 parts as seen in Turhinella. The plaits on the pillar 

 are small, placed close to the bottom of the aperture, 

 and generally not more than two ; the last being by 

 far the largest. Some of these large shells are smooth, 

 but a few are corrugated or wrinkled; thus preparing us 

 for the Scolyminae, to which they directly lead. Two 

 other genera, however, enter into this circle: one of 



