MOLLUSCA, THE SHELL-FISH ioi 



times. Conchology, the study of shells, was at 

 one time the hobby of many collectors whose 

 knowledge of the animals possessing the shells 

 was not of a very extensive kind ; and conse- 

 quently the very name of conchology is often 

 enough to ruffle the feelings of the zoologist of 

 the present day. Yet many interesting problems 

 of variation may be studied from shells alone, by 

 those whose circumstances forbid them to study 

 the living animal. Nor is there any branch of 

 zoology which is more useful to the teacher who 

 wishes to catch the eye and the attention of the 

 beginner in the study of natural history, espe- 

 cially if the beginner is young, as beginners ought 

 to be. Therefore we must by no means under- 

 value the past labours of conchologists, or the 

 valuable collections which their industry has 

 brought together and set in order for the benefit 

 of the world. 



For example of the most crooked, or Azygo- 

 branchiate division of the Streptoneura, turn 

 now to Fig. 33, in which we see a typical Gas- 

 teropod shell, Murex ramosus, the Branchy 1 

 Murex, aptly enough named from the many 

 prickly branches which beset it. These rough 

 points are probably assumed for protective pur- 

 poses; any animal that might wish to dine upon 

 the Murex ramosus would think twice before 

 trying to swallow it the morsel of shell-fish is 

 so small, its shelly case so large and so prickly. If 

 we look for its nearest English relative, that is 

 Murex erinaceus, the Hedgehog Murex, or Sting- 

 winkle. This, though a comparatively plain shell, 

 has still enough rough ridges upon it to have 

 secured it a comparison to the prickly hedgehog. 

 Perhaps the most prickly member of the genus, 



