234 DR Johnston's descriptive catalogue of the 



Sah. Berwick Bay, in deep water, frequent. 



Animal with two long cylindrical slightly tapered tentacnla of a scarlet colour 

 spotted with pale yellow, yellowish on th.? under side : eyes at the base, 

 external, promineut, sessile : mouth at the end of a loupf cylindrical snout, 

 scarlet, speckled with pale yellow; the tongue slender, cartilaginous, jointed, 

 invested in a sheath : body whitish, freckled with scarlet : margin of the 

 cloak plain, reflected, with a very shoi't canal in jjlace of a syphon ; penis 

 placed under the opposite tentaculum, i-etroflexed, curved, flattened : rectum 

 opening above the penis with a narrow orifice : foot somewhat pedunculate, 

 oblong, truncate anteriorh^, tapered behind, rather short, plain, white : 

 operculum flxed on the back of the foot, horny, elliptical, and rather small. 

 Creeps very sloM^ly, the tentacula being widely extended, and used as feelers. 

 The faeces are in the form of small egg-shaped pellets, and are deposited 

 in heaps. The intei'ior of the shell is piirplish. 



2. Fusus. Lamarck. 



Shell fusiform, ventricose at the middle, the spire produced ; aper- 

 ture oval, with an elongated straight canal ; pillar smooth ; outer lip 

 even, acute. 



1. F. antiquus, shell ovate-fusiform, white, thick, plain, obsoletely 

 striated in a spiral direction; whorls nine, rounded and angidated 

 in the middle ; aperture oval, dilated, yellow with a white rim ; 

 pillar with a thick fold at the base ; canal short. Length about 

 6 inches. Lam. Anim. s. Vert. vii. 125. FJem. Brit. Anim. 348. 

 Murex antiquus, Linn. Dillw. Eec. Sh. 724. 



Hob. Berwick Bay, in deep water, frequent. 



I have a specimen of this shell, found near Alemouth, and presented to me by 

 Miss Is. Forster, which is eight inches in length, and three and a half in 

 breadth, but it rarely exceeds six inches. It is sometimes partially 

 covered with the remains of a thin brown epidermis, but more commonly 

 this is worn off. The body-whorl of the female is more bellied than that 

 of the male, the shell of the latter being beautifully proportioned. " The 

 shell, suspended horizontally," says Dr Fleming, "is employed in the 

 Zetland cottage as a lamp, the cavity containing the oil, and the canal the 

 wick." I have seen it used in the same manner, and for the same purpose, 

 by the fishermen on this coast. 



Animal white : tentactila dorsal, flattened, much dilated at the base, the small 

 eyes seated in an incisure on their outer edge near the middle : margin of 

 the cloak plain : syphon canalictilate, plain, speckled with black exteriorly; 

 mouth furnished with a long cylindrical exsertile proboscis containing a 

 slender filiform cartilaginous tongue marked with numerous cross strise, 

 and surrounded with a sheath of brown muscular fibres : branchife in two 

 very unequal plume-like adnate processes laid along the syphonal side of 

 the branchial cavity, and on the opposi e side there is an elevated ridge 

 produced by the course of the rectum, which opens on the margin of the 

 cavity with a plain orifice ; the interior of the intestine yellowish-brown, 

 and strongly plaited in a longititdinal direction : penis retroflected, large, 

 linear, flattened, obtuse and truncate : foot oval, rugose, straw-coloured : 

 operculum brown, horny, pyriform, marked with concentric strias. 



The nidus of this molluscum is a very curious object. It is firmly attached to 

 rocks in deep water by a broad base, and forms an obtuse cone about three 

 inches high and two in diameter, made up of a number of large cells or 

 pouches joined together by a strong cartilaginous band or skin. Each 

 cell is shaped something like the human nail, convex outwardly and con- 

 cave on the inner side, the outer coat strong and cartilaginous, with a 

 slit on the upper edge. Within this, and only loosely connected with it, 



