PHASIANELLA. 337 



Family VIII. TURBI'NID^, {Turhonidw) 

 Fleming. 



BoDr resembling that of the Trochidoe. 



Shell conical or oval, and spiral : operculum calcareous and 

 solid, convex on the outer side, flat or concave and paucispiral 

 on the inner side. 



For the mere purpose of classification, it is immate- 

 rial whether the characters which serve to distinguish 

 one family or group from another allied to it are many or 

 (as in the present instance) consist of a single feature. 

 In the TrochidcR the operculum is horny, thin, and mul- 

 tispiral. The Twrhmidm have their home in southern 

 climes ; a single straggler, and that a very small one, 

 inhabits the British seas. 



Although the founder of the family was a good na- 

 turalist, the breed was at first decidedly mongrel, and 

 included Turritella, Odostomia, Scalaria, Skenea, and 

 Paludina, with other equally incongruous genera, which 

 agreed only in being holostomatous univalves. The 

 family circle is now more restricted and select. 



Genus PHASIANELLA*, Lamarck. PL YIII. f. L 



Body elongated. 



Shell oval or oblong, rather solid, polished, and beautifully 

 variegated in colour, imperforate at the base : mouth having 

 its lips or edges disunited : opercuhim ear- shaped, concave on 

 the inner side, with a short excentric spire. 



It appears from Woodward^s excellent ^ Manual of 

 the Mollusca ' that the number of recent species belong- 

 ing to this genus is 25, and of fossil species 70. 



George Humphreys gave it the name of Eub^op'ia 

 and Risso described it as Tricolia. 



* Speckled like a ben -pheasant. 

 VOL. III. Q 



