MURICID.E. WHELK. 191 



half the fish could not be picked out. The "opening of 

 the shell/' refers, we conclude, to the falling oat of the 

 operculum.* 



Fam. MURICIDiE. 



BUCCINUM.— WHELK. 



Buccindm undatum, Linnseus. Whelk. — Shell ovate, 

 with eight whorls, more or less inflated, covered with 

 transverse coarse strias; waved or undulated obliquely ■, 

 covered with a yellowish-brown epidermis ; leno-th 

 about four inches. The aperture large, nearly half the 

 length of the body whorl. Columella strong, pillar lip 

 smooth, and bent back ; interior white, very polished, 

 sometimes lemon-colour, or orange ; canal short ; oper- 

 culum of a reddish horn colour. 



The shell of the common whelk, or buckie, the Buccin 

 onde and Ran of the French, varies very much in colour, 

 being sometimes yellowish, without bands, and other 

 specimens having chestnut spiral bands, or wavy 

 blotches. White varieties are occasionally taken, and 

 the shell figured, being dredged up in deep water, has 

 still the rough olivaceous-coloured epidermis on it. 

 It is found often on the beach, and is a great enemy to 

 other mollusks, boring holes in their shells, and sucking 

 the pieces of the fish within, by means of its spiny 

 tongue. Dr. Harvey, in his ' Seaside Book/ says, " that 

 the proboscis of the whelk consists of two cylinders, 

 one within the other, the outer of which serves for the 

 attachment of the motor muscles, and the general 

 protection of the organ ; while the inner, opening near 



* M. S. L. 



