THE STORY OF ANIMAL LIFE 



however, is Murex tenuispina, sometimes called 

 Venus' Comb, because the crowded parallel spines 

 which decorate the elongated front of the shell 

 somewhat resemble 

 the parallel teeth of 

 a comb. 



How does the Mu- 

 rex get its living! 

 Let us notice the 

 shape of the shell, 

 drawn otft to a point, 

 at the end opposite 

 to the spire. Ac- 

 cording to the older 

 classification of the 

 Mollusca, now some- 

 what fallen out of 

 use, this point marks 

 the shell as belong- 

 ing to one of the Si- 

 phonostomata (shell- 

 fish with a siphon at 

 the mouth of the 

 shell, i.e.). These 

 shell-fish are, with 

 few exceptions, car- 

 nivorous ; not that 

 the siphon shape of 

 the shell has any di- 

 rect connection with 

 the animal's way 



FIG. 33. The Branchy Murex, M. 

 ramosus, a typical specimen of 

 the shell of the Carnivorous 

 Gasteropods. Sp. , spire or pos- 

 terior end of the shell ; S, si- 

 phon or anterior end of the 

 shell. Fig. A, shows the mouth 

 of the shell ; Fig. B, the exterior 

 only. Less than one-half the 

 natural size. 



of feeding. Just as 

 the snail files among 

 soft vegetable sub- 

 stances, so the Murex 

 and many of its re- 



