FAMILY 9. ALATA. 
i) 
j=) 
or 
STROMBUS, Linneus. 
Testa turrita, ventricosa, spira conica, sepé plicata; basi in canalem 
brevem, seu emarginatum, seu truncatum, desinente ; apertura elon- 
gata, superné canaliculata ; columella levi, plerumque incrassata ; 
labro in alam simplicem plus minusve ampliato, superné lobato, 
supra spiram sepé extenso, inferné lacuna propé ad canalem sinu- 
ato. Operculum corneum, parvum, anticé attenuatum. 
We cite Linneus as author of the genera he adopted, because the titles, 
and, in some instances, the divisions, instituted by earlier writers were 
not used with regularity. We honour this naturalist, because a degree of 
method was employed in his arrangement of the ‘ Systema Nature’ that 
had not previously been attained ; he reduced the entire face of nature to 
a state of order, and effected a mighty revolution in the study of the natu- 
ral sciences by the aid of that grand binominous principle of nomenclature 
that has since been followed. Linnzeus, therefore, is accounted to be the 
author of this genus, although the word =rpou(30¢ was used by Aristotle, 
Galen, Xenocrates, and many of the ancient Greek writers, in speaking 
of the mollusks referred to it; he distinguished his Strombi by the pre- 
sence of a strong sinus in the lip near the basal canal, and except in being 
dismembered of the Pterocere and Rostellarie, the genus remains nearly 
the same as he left it. 
The Strombi are found chiefly in the tropical regions, and exhibit many 
vivid varieties of colour ; the principal specific variations consist in the 
different expansions of the outer lip. 
The shell of Strombus may be described as being turrited, and ventri- 
cose, with a conical spire, which is often plaited ; and the base of the 
shell terminates in a short canal, which is either emarginated, or trun- 
cated ; the aperture is long, and canaliculated at the upper part ; the 
columella is smooth, and generally thickened ; and the lip becomes more 
or less enlarged or expanded into a simple wing, which, being lobed 
