120 



recurved, now elongated and straight ; whorls generally ridged 

 and tubercled, rarely smooth ; columella plaited, plaits com- 

 pressed, one to Jive inches in number ; epidermis horny or 

 fibrous. 



Apart from any consideration of the animal, the Turbinellm appear 

 at first sight to be a compound of Voluta and Murex, the shell having the 

 columella plaited in a manner resembling the former genus, whilst in 

 general aspect it approaches rather to the latter. Linnseus referred some 

 species to one group, some to the other ; but a comparison of the shells 

 with those of Fusus and Fasciolaria will show a remarkable affinity passing 

 into Murex, which is fully confirmed by the similarity in the animals of 

 these genera. 



Though comparatively limited in species, the Turbinella are widely dis- 

 similar in general appearance ; some are short and pear-shaped, and others 

 elongated and fusiform ; all are characterised by a heavy, solid growth, 

 with considerable depth of colour, and are divisible into five well-defined 

 sections, of which the T. pi/rum, cornigera^ hifundibulum, polygona, and 

 nassatula, may be regarded as types. The columellar plaits are irregular 

 both in number and development, varying from a transverse to the oblique 

 growth noticed in Fasciolaria. 



As a rare species of the first group above mentioned, the T. fusus in the 

 British Museum is worthy of notice; of the second, the T. muricata, 

 castus, and cassidiformis are fine examples ; of the third, the T. lanceolata 

 is an elegant and rare instance ; and among the rarities verging upon the 

 fourth and fifth groups may be noticed the T. vexittum and vexittidum, the 

 T. Australiensis, the beautiful T. prismatica, which on being immersed in 

 water throws out a delicate iridescent lustre, and two beautifully painted 

 species, collected by Sir Edward Belcher, during the recent voyage of 

 H. M.S. Samarang, T.picta and Belcheri.~\ 



The Tiirbinella are pretty widely distributed, but only in very warm 

 climates ; none inhabit our own shores, nor do they approach the Mediter- 

 ranean. The principal localities are the Philippine Islands, the Gallapagos, 

 and other islands of the Pacific, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Panama, Ceylon, 

 Acapulco, Rio Janeiro, and the West Indies. 



* The animal of Turbinella cornigera is of a deep purple, finely marbled with white, the 

 colours being fainter towards the margin of the foot. The eye is distinct, and well-formed, 

 having a black pupil and iris of a light yellow colour. It crawls with deliberation and apparent 

 difficulty, seeming to labour under the weight of its heavy shell, as a tortoise does under that of 

 its carapace. It is, moreover, of a very timid disposition, shrinking, also, like the tortoise, 

 quickly within its shell on the slightest alarm. The specimen from which the foregoing obser- 

 vations were taken, was procured in about a fathom water from a weedy bottom on the shores of 

 Billitou, an island in the Java Sea, between Borneo and Sumatra.— Adams, Moll. Voy. Samarang. 



t All described and figured in the ' Conchologia Iconica.' 



