MUREX Tritonia. 

 TRITON'S TRUMPET. 



Specific Character. Shell ventricose, with al- 

 ternate varices, and slightly elevated transverse 

 ribs, the interstices striated; the whorls crena- 

 ted* at the suture ; columellar lip grooved ; heak 

 short and ascending ; colour whitish, ornamented 

 on the ribs with parallel curved reddish brown 

 spots, which are shaded off towards each other ; 

 columellar lip striped with dark brown ; the length 

 is a foot, sometimes sixteen inches, and the 

 breadth about half as much. 



It inhabits the Asiatic seas, and those of the 

 Torrid zone in general. It is used by the natives 

 of New Zealand as a musical instrument, and by 

 the Africans as a military trumpet. It is sup- 

 posed to be the shell intended by Ovid, when he 

 describes the waters of the deluge retiring on the 

 sound of the trumpet of Triton. 



Genus TROCHUSf PforaZ, Trochi. 



TOP SHELL. 



Generic Character. Shell univalve, spirally 



* Crenated, being notched, from the Latin cren a, the 

 notch of an arrow. 



+ Plate IV. figures 4, 5, 6. 

 H 2 



