BUCCINUM WHELK. 87 



undulating * ribs both transversely and longitu- 

 dinally striated ; varies in colour from dirty white 

 to chesnut brown ; size from two to five inches 

 long, and more than half as broad. 



There are scarcely any of our shores which do 

 not produce this shell. It is commonly taken 

 in dredging by fishermen, who either use the 

 animal for bait, or destroy it, under the supposi- 

 tion that it is very destructive to a large species of 

 scallop, insinuating its tail, as they term the trunk, 

 into the shell, and killing the inhabitant for food. 

 The . old shells are frequently covered with a 

 brown epidermis, or rough extraneous matter. 



The animal has two conical tentacula bearing 

 eyes at their base, a short foot, to which is at- 

 tached a horny operculum, and a long trunk that 

 issues through the notch at the base of the shell. 



BUCCINUM LapiUus. 



ROCK WHELK. 



Specific Character. Shell ovate, thick, with 

 five or six whorls more or less striated longitudi- 

 nally, and transversely crossed with finer irre- 

 gular striae ; apex, small, pointed ; aperture 

 oval ; outer lip waved or denticulated ; it is 

 usually of an uniform dirty white, or yellowish 



* Undulating : wavy, from the Latin undul a, a small wave. 



