THE SMALLER SEA-SHELLS 



169 



Fig. 158 



line. In a fully grown specimen there are four or 

 five white teeth inside the outer lip. 



Murex festivus, Hds., the Festive Murex, is shown 

 in Figure 158. I gathered fine 

 specimens of this grand species at 

 San Pedro, by going among the 

 piles of the wharves when the tide 

 was low, and examining the upper 

 part of the logs, to which these and 

 other species of mollusks were 

 clinging. Many of them were 

 somewhat concealed by growths of 

 seaweed and hanging drift, but 

 they readily yielded to a careful 

 search. 



The shell is festively ornamented with three re- 

 flexed frills on each whorl, alternating with rounded 

 knobs. In perfect specimens there are numerous 

 fine spiral lines of sculpturing, which are often 

 covered with foreign substances. The canal is com- 

 pletely closed, forming a tube, which is bent back 

 near its extremity. The color is white or gray, 

 though the outside is often very dingy. The picture 

 represents a good sized specimen, though it some- 

 times grows considerably larger. This species loves 

 warm water too well to migrate far to the north. 



Murex incisus, Brod., the Incised Murex, belongs 

 to southern waters and is not very common. The 

 shell has strong, rounded, transverse ridges which 

 give the spire the appearance of being chopped full 

 of holes. The color is white with cross stripes of 

 brown, and its length is an inch and a quarter. 



Figure 159 introduces us to another southern 



