IIG UNIVALVES TURBO. 



tinguished from the true, by its being much more taper 

 or elongated and is in reahty a very conmion shell ; it is 

 usually placed in collections very close to the true one, 

 and thereby more clearly demonstrates the difference. 

 It is notumbilicate.and the whorls are more closely con- 

 nected. There are three varieties of this species: one is 

 pellucid with very thin ribs ; the other has its lip produc- 

 ed into a beak ; and some are spotted or dotted with 

 brown. They are found in thel^uropean and bidian seas, 

 ill great plenty, from half an inch to two inches in length. 

 It is said, that, from the animal inhabiting these shells, 

 the ancients extracted a purple dye. 



Among the other rarities of this genus, the pheasant 

 and beauty varieties must not be omitted ; they are both 

 exceedingly scarce, and are mostly from Van Diemen's 

 Land, and other islands of the South Seas. There is per- 

 haps, no species of shells throughout the genera of Uni- 

 valves, which admits of so much real beauty and variety 

 as is manifest in tlie pheasants. 



Many shells of this genus (connnonly known as needles 

 or screws) are exceedingly beautiful ; their shape is 

 that of a well proportioned spire, with thirty or forty 

 whorls gradually tapering or diminishing from the base 

 to the very extreme tip or apex of the shell, and there 

 ending in a most acute point, forming in their course the 

 rnest elegant and graceful spiral the imagination can sug- 

 gest. The shells of this form are distinguished from those 

 something similar among the strombi and buccina, by 

 tlioir having a circular or orbicular mouth, which is in- 

 deed the leading characteristic of all the species through- 

 out this genus. 



Among the species of the tapering or elongated Tur- 

 bines, may be mentioned the Turbo imbricatus, replica- 



