TRITON. 301 



I will not dis23ute, but leave tliem to their own opinion. 

 If a time should arrive when the Channel Isles cease to 

 be part of this country^ all the above items may be 

 omitted^ and transferred to another account in the 

 ledger of European fauna. 



The name of Triton has long been established and in 

 use for a well-known genus of lizards. Link and Cuvier 

 called the shell Tritonium, and Schumacher Lampusia : 

 the former name, however, was preoccupied by Miiller ; 

 and, although it has been superseded, some confusion 

 might arise from the new application of it. Should any 

 change be necessary, Lampusia may be adopted. 



1. Triton nodi'ferus"^, Lamarck. 



Triton nodiferum, Lam. An. s. V. vii. p. 179. 



Body of a vermilion tint, marbled with diifused spots of 

 reddish-brown : mantle white [prettily variegated (Costa)] : 

 tentacles adorned with two black bands : foot having the sole 

 orangecolour. (Philippi.) 



Shell conic-oblong, with an angulated outhne, very strong 

 and solid, opaque, rather glossy : sculpture, a thick rib behind 

 the outer lip on the body-whorl, and one in a corresponding 

 position on each of the other whorls, which form varices and are 

 apparently the marks of annual growth ; the whole surface is 

 irregularly covered with numerous spiral ridges and finer in- 

 termediate strias (besides close-set microscopic lines in the 

 same direction), the ridges being more or less tuberculated or 

 nodose : colour whitish, with a pale flesh tinge, variegated by 

 coffeecoloured spots, stripes, and blotches : epidermis brownish - 

 yellow, thin, and easily peeled off: sp>ire elongated: luhorls 

 8-10, swollen, and compressed upwards ; the last occupies 

 nearly two-thirds of the shell : suture rather slight : mouth 

 acute-angled at the upper and lower corners ; length about 

 one-half that of the spire : canal wide and deep, ending out- 

 side in a shallow notch ; its edge is thick, but not reflec- 

 ted : outer lip semicircular, sloping or bevelled inwards, and 

 furnished inside with from 15 to 20 short coffeecoloured 



* Knot-bearing. 



