132 SHELLS AND SHELL-FISH. PART I. 



our investigation in the mitres. Whether we view the 

 family VolutidcB as a whole, or contemplate separately- 

 each of its divisions, whether large or small, we shall 

 find their variation uniformly harmonising with what 

 has heen seen in the Muricidce and the TurhinellidcB, — 

 a fact which every one will perceive, on investigating 

 the following table, which is also sufficient to furnish the 

 clue even to the analogies of the sub-genera. 



General Analogies of the Volutid^. 



Families Sub-families 



of the of the 



ZooPHAGA. Volutidce. 



TURBINELLID^. VolUTlNffi. 

 MURICIDJ3. MlTRIN*. 



VoLUTiD^. Olivine. 



CYPR^1D.E. ANCILLARIN.E. 



Stkombid^. Marginellix.t- 



(119.) The three aberrant divisions of the volutes, 

 namely, the Olivine, the Ancillarinje, and the Mar- 

 gelling, must be dismissed in a few words. The minor 

 variations in each are very few, and will be found in 

 the systematic arrangement. The genus MUrella leads 

 us immediately from the mitres to the olives ; where, 

 as in Harpula, the plaits upon the pillar cover the whole 

 length of the inner lip : the foot of the animal is ex- 

 cessively large, and sufficiently dilated to fold over the 

 greater part of the shell ; but the mantle is not lobed. 

 The first genus is Lamprodotna*, which chiefly differs 

 from MUrella in having the channeled suture so uni- 

 versal among the olives. This leads to the typical 

 genus Oliva, wherein the majority of the species are still 

 arranged. Scaphula, by its thick undefined spire and 

 ventricose body-whorl, is a complete prototype of the 

 melon volutes, and prepares us for Hiatula, in which the 

 characters of Oliva, Scaphula, and AncUlaria are com- 

 bined. The circle is then closed by those small species 

 arranged under the genus Olivella, wherein the base of 



* La7np, Olivella, Zoo!. III. ii. pi. 40. fig. 1. 



