286 BUCCINID^. 



strengthened by curved ribs or folds (like buttresses), of which 

 there are from 12 to 15 on the jienultimate whorl ; top whorl 

 smooth ; the base is girded by a very large, strong, and ob- 

 liquely twisted keel : colour mostly yellowish-white, tinged 

 with reddish-brown, sometimes white banded with the latter co- 

 lour, or reddish-brown with a pink tinge and beautifully mot- 

 tled with white ; inside yellow, white, pale reddish -brown or 

 chocolate : epklermis pale brownish-yellow, rather thin, usually 

 rising into close-set laminar folds, corresponding with the 

 longitudinal striae, which form short spinous processes on the 

 spiral ridges : spire regularly tapering ; apex blunt and irre- 

 gular, or mammiform : ivJiorls 7-8, rounded ; the last occupies 

 about two-thirds of the shell : suture deep : mouth oval, and 

 somewhat expanded ; length about one-half that of the spire : 

 canal open and deep, exhibiting outside a similar and oblique 

 notch: outer lip semicircular, flexuous, and having a large 

 sinus or bay in the middle ; it slopes outwards from the peri- 

 phery ; edge reflected and thickened in full-grown specimens ; 

 inside slightly and indistinctly grooved : inner lip broad, con- 

 sisting of a rather thick glaze on the pillar and adjacent part 

 of the body-whorl: pillar smooth and highly polished, mi- 

 croscopically freckled or pustulated by the lower fold of the 

 mantle: operculum pale brownish-yellow, rather solid, more 

 or less concave towards the nucleus ; the layers of growth are 

 laminar and numerous, resembling the epidermis in texture. 

 L. 3-25. B. 2. 



Yar. 1. fle.vuosa. More slender, with a produced spire ; 

 whorls apparently twisted, in consequence of the ribs being 

 obliquely curved. 



Var. 2. littoralis (King). Yentricose ; spire shorter, and 

 body-whorl disproportionately large ; longitudinal plaits 

 strong; throat often coffeecoloured. 



Yar. 3. paupercula. Dwarf and depauperated. 



Yar. 4. striata. Thinner than usual, with the longitudinal 

 ribs nearly obliterated. {B. striatum, Pennant, Br. Zool. iv. 

 p. 121, t. Ixxiv. f. 91.) 



Yar. 5. pelagica (King). Twice the usual size, and also 

 thinner, with a longer spire and proportionally smaller mouth. 



Yar. 6. Zetlandica (Forbes). Smaller, and of a thin and 

 delicate texture, destitute of longitudinal ribs; epidermis 

 smooth and membranous. 



Monstr. 1. sinistrorsum. Spire reversed. 2. carinatum. 



