400 CYPR^IDiE. 



Genus I. MARGINEL'LA*, Lamarck. PL VII. f. 3. 



Body oval : mantle pustulated : head furnished witli a re- 

 tractile proboscis. 



Shell coiiic-oval, smooth and polished : spire visible in 

 every state of growth : mouth nearly as long as the shell, 

 narrow, channelled at the base only : irillar plicated. 



Risso proposed the genus Erato for the reception of 

 our only species ; but I agree with Deshayes and Phi- 

 lippi that^r«/o cannot be distinguished from. Marginella. 



Margin ELLA L^visf^ Donovan. 



Volufa l(Bvis, Don. Er. Sh. v. pi. clxv. M. IcBvis, F. & H. iii. p. 502, 

 pi. cxiv. B. f. 4, 5, and (animal) pi. NN. f. 8, 9. 



Body milk-white, closely and minutely speckled all over 

 with orange, pink, and black ; these markings are aj-ranged 

 in various patterns : mantle thick, forming two flaps which 

 cover from one-half to two-thirds of the shell, leaving the 

 back only exposed ; these flaps or lobes are elegantly tessel- 

 lated with purplish-brown, and are more or less studded with 

 small pale yellow pustules or nipple-shaped tubercles of dif- 

 ferent sizes ; the front and lower portions of each side are 

 often marked with purplish-brown spots : paU'ial tube rather 

 long, folded in a cylindrical form : proboscis white and cylin- 

 drical, more than half an inch long : tentacles extensile, usually 

 rather short, with blunt tips, forked at their bases and widely 

 diverging : ei/es on short stalks : foot long and slender, shghtly 

 rounded in front, with angular corners, contracted in the 

 middle and tapering to a blunt point or tail : verge very large, 

 bent and triangular. 



Shell harp-shaped, solid, opaque, porcellanous and highly 

 lustrous : sculpture, none except linear marks of growth, and 

 a few slight and microscopic spiral striae on the top whorls : 

 colour milk-white, with a pale orange-brown tint and a pink 

 outer lip in southern specimens : sjnre prominent, although 

 blunt ; apex somewhat globular and excentric : ivhorls 5-6 ; 

 the last is gibbous, and occupies J-|- of the shell: suture 

 very slight and indistinct : mouth nearly equal in width 



* A diminutive ; of margo, a rim. f Smooth ; properly levis. 



