81 

 VOLUTA Pyrum. 



TURNIP VOLUTA. 



Specific Character. Shell pear-shaped, ponde- 

 rous, smooth, canaliculated, striated, and slightly 

 nodulous transversely ; spire acute ; columellar 

 lip with three plaits ; colour dirty white : the 

 young shells are yellowish, and have irregular 

 transverse rows of dark spots. The size of the 

 perfect shell is about five inches long, and about 

 half as broad. 



The reversed shells of this species are held 

 sacred in China, where a great price is given for 

 them ; they are kept in pagodas by the priests, 

 who on certain occasions administer medicine to 

 the sick out of them, they also use them to hold 

 the oil with which the Emperor is anointed at his 

 coronation. They are often curiously ornamented 

 with carvings, executed by the Indians, who con- 

 vert them into drinking cups. 



Genus. BUCCINUM.* P^raZ, Buccina. 

 WHELK. 



Generic Character. Shell univalve, spirally 

 convoluted, frequently canaliculated ; form gib- 



* Plate III. fig. 1, 2, 3, 4. 



