CYLICHNA. 513 



visible though often barely elevated spire, which consists of 

 three short volutions that do not regularly taper above, but 

 are narrowly and bluntly subscalar ; the apex is blunt, 

 but not manimillary. 



The suture is well marked, but is not truly canaliculated, 

 though in the more blunt-topped examples, where the whorls 

 are thrust inward, as it were, it occasionally has somewhat 

 that appearance. The aperture is retort-shaped, most of 

 the upper half being extremely narrow ; it rather abruptly 

 dilates into a bulb below, where the extremity is broad yet 

 well rounded. The junction of the outer lip to the body 

 is subangular, and usually takes place as far beneath the 

 preceding suture, as the latter lies below the level of the 

 apex ; hence in some examples it is almost in a line with 

 the summit, whilst the apex in others rises far above it. 

 The outer lip is straightish or retuse above, where it ad- 

 vances, and much arcuated below, where it recedes. The 

 curvature of the reflected pillar lip, which is rarely quite 

 appressed, and is never pliciform, nor flanked by a distinct 

 umbilicus, is likewise considerable. One of our larger 

 specimens measured fully a quarter of an inch in length, 

 and an eighth of an inch in breadth. 



It ranges from low-water mark to as deep as thirty 

 fathoms, and is frequent especially in sandy and muddy 

 estuaries. It is generally distributed around the British 

 coasts. 



VOL. lU. 



3 u 



