S E C T I O N X. 1S7 



The tenth family I (hall call the Ear 

 Snails, or Auris-Cochlea, a combination 

 of two names, which expreffes the affini- 

 ty thefe Shells have to the Sea Ears, while, 

 at the fame time, they are truly a kind of 

 Cochlea or Snails. This Shell is called 

 the Venus Ear, See PI. Ill, fig. 7, 8, in 

 two views. 



Their fhape fo much refembles the Sea 

 Ears, that moft authors have ranked them 

 in that family, and call them non-perfo- 

 rated Sea Ears. Lifter and Gualtieri rank 



have proper domicilia, who quit them voluntarily. 

 Fear or neceflity may pofTibly caufe this feparation 

 fometimes. Befides, as this animal may be fuppofed to 

 frame its own habitation, like others of the teftaceous 

 kind, it feems necelTary to have an attachment, how- 

 ever flight, to fome one point, as that from which it 

 uniformly extends itfelf for the formation of its (hell : 

 if this was not the cafe, is it poflible to conceive, that 

 a fhell fo delicate, fo regular in every refpedl, could 

 be fabricated f 



them 



