RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



The Shell - Bearing Mollusca of Rhode 

 Island. 



[BY HORACE F. CARPENTER.] 



Chapter VII. 



Genus Sycotypus, Gill. 



Shell with canaliculate suture, periostraca 

 ciliated, nodulus iiLstcad of spinous. 



Theodore Gill, m. d., in a treatise on the 

 genus Fulgur and its allies, published in the 

 American Journal of Convhology, Vol. III., 

 pp. 141 to 152, 1867, gives a' lengthy de- 

 scription of the genus, and his reasons for 

 separating it from the genus Fulgur. Mr. 

 George W. Tr^'on, in his latest work, 

 Manual of Conchology , Vol. III., p. 142, 

 1881, considers it as a sub-genus of Fulgur. 



8. Sycotypus canalioulatus, Linn. 

 Syns. : 



Murex canaliculatus, Linn. 



Pyrula canaliculatus, GUI. Lam. De Kay, 

 etc. 



Busycon canaliculatus, Stimpson. 



Sycotypus canaliculatus, Gill. Dall. Per- 

 kins, etc. 



Shell large, thin, pear-siiaped, pale fawn 

 color, coarsely wrinkled by revolving lines ; 

 surface covered with a coarse, thick, 

 yellowish -brown epidermis, bristling with 

 stiff, curved hairs along the lines of growth ; 

 this epidermis easily comes off", and it is 

 rare to find a specimen wholly covered with 

 it ; whorls six, bod3'-whorl ver}' lai'ge ; 

 suture a broad and deep channel, so that 

 the upper whorls consist of two portions ; 

 an upright and a nearly horizontal one, all 

 terminating in a pointed apex, the suture re- 

 sembling a pair of circular stairs, mounting 

 upward on the outer portion of the spire ; 

 aperture ovate, three-fourths the length of 

 the shell ; outer lip simple, sharp and 

 arched ; inner lip concave, smooth, twisted 

 at the lower half to form a long, enameled 

 canal ; interior of aperture chestnut or fawn 

 color, polished ; operculum small, oval, 

 semi-transparent. 



This species inhabits the same localities 

 as Fulgur carica, viz., Cape Cod to Florida, 

 but is much more abundant in Rhode Island 

 than carica, although never found north of 

 the Cape. Its length is from five to seven 

 inches, and its breadth three to four. I 



once found a specimen in our bay, which I 

 presented to the Providence Franklin 

 Societ}' in 1872, measuring eight and one- 

 quarter inches in length b^' four and one 

 quarter in breadth. 



The ova cases of this species are laid in 

 April in a similar manner, and much re- 

 semble these of Fulgur carica ; the surfaces 

 of the cases, however, are not ribbed like 

 that species, but are smooth, and the edges 

 instead of being beveled to a point, are flat, 

 and about one-eighth of an inch across, with 

 twelve to fifteen lines across them. A 

 string of these cases from Atlantic City, 

 N. J., contiiined ninet3'-eight embryos in 

 each case, making about five thousand in 

 all. 



Sub- Family, Buccinin.k. 

 Genus Buccinum, Linn.eus. 1767. 



Shell ovate or oblong, covered with a 

 horny epidermis ; spire elevated, apex 

 acute ; aperture large, oval, emargiuate in 

 front ; canal wide and short ; inner lip ex- 

 panded ; outer lip thin, smooth internally. 

 The genus is limited to northern seas. 



9. Buccinum undatum, Linn. 



Shell thick, strong, ovate-conic, ventri- 

 cose, encircled with raised lines, and with 

 minute intervening stria^ ; with twelve or 

 thirteen longitudinal obliquely waved ribs, 

 traversing the upper whorls, fading awa^^ 

 near the centre of the body-whorl ; epider- 

 mis grayish ; whorls six ; aperture oval, one- 

 half the length of the shell, white within, 

 sometimes of a beautiful golden yellow ; 

 labium crenulated ; labium broadly over- 

 laid with callus and twisted at its lower 

 portion ; canal a mere notch. Length three 

 inches, breadth nearly two inches. 



It belongs to the Boreal Province, and is 

 abundant and in fine condition at Portland, 

 Me. It is not common in Rhode Island, 

 and when found is dwarfed in size. It in- 

 habits the ocean rocks at Newport at low- 

 water mark and to fifty or more fathoms in 

 depth. It is found" in Newfoundland, 

 Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and 

 Great Britain. The animal is very vora- 

 cious, and devours immense numbers of 

 fish. Fishes in their turn devour it with 

 equal greediness. This species is the edible 

 whelk of England (called Buckie in Scot- 

 land), and is collected by boat-loads, and 



