404 CYPR.5^.ID^. 



the back or upper part of the shell, which it oftens covers 

 completely ; it is more or less studded with conical or wart- 

 like processes, some of which frequently are branched and 

 others longer than the rest ; colour pale orange-brown with 

 the papillae yellow or white, and occasionally variegated by 

 red spots and a few purplish blotches : pallial tube conico- 

 cylindrical, rather long, projecting horizontally or somewhat 

 upturned ; this is also studded M^th papillae, and is orange 

 or light yellowish-brown ; edges of the orifice slightly reflexed : 

 proboscis long : tentacles long, flexible, tapering to a blunt 

 point, and widely diverging ; they are speckled with yellow : 

 eijes on short stalks at the outer bases of the tentacles : foot 

 expansile, so as to be twice the length of the shell, in front 

 truncated, with small angular corners, behind rounded or 

 obtuse-angled ; it is pale yellowish-brown, and edged with a 

 rather broad border of a lighter tint ; sole whitish, yellow, or 

 orange: verge large, orange : jaws elliptical and horny: 

 odontopliove short. 



Shell roundish-oval, solid, opaque, and glossy : sculpture, 

 from 20 to 2o fine thread-like ribs, which cross the back of 

 the shell or body- whorl, and are continued within the mouth ; 

 a few of these ribs anastomose, or are shorter and placed 

 between others of full length ; those at each end are fork-like ; 

 their interstices (especially on the underside of the shell) are 

 microscopically pustulated : colour pale reddish-brown or 

 fieshcolour (sometimes whitish) above, often variegated by 

 three purplish-brown spots along the back, one at each end 

 and the third in the middle; the underside of the shell is 

 white ; ribs paler in highly coloured specimens : sjjire very 

 short, more or less concealed in the adult ; apex of young 

 shells (in which alone it is visible) not unlike that of Natica : 

 whorls, apparently a single one which enwraps all the others ; 

 in the young between 3 and 4 may be counted : suture in 

 the early state of growth slight, afterwards coated over: 

 mouth slit-like, nearly of the same width throughout, and 

 somewhat arched : canal very short and straight, exhibiting 

 on the outside a conspicuous notch: outer lip very thick, 

 broad, and rounded ; edge notched by the ribs : imier lip 

 scarcely perceptible : pillar gently curved, angnlated or 

 ridged on the outside, with a cavity or depression underneath ; 

 inside traversed by the ribs, and notched. L. 0-45. B. 0-35. 



Habitat : All our coasts^ on stony and coral ground, 



