TRITON. 301 



I will not dispute, but leave them to their own opinion. 

 If a time should arrive when the Channel Isles cease to 

 be part of this country, all the above items may be 

 omitted, and transferred to another account in the 

 ledger of European fauna. 



The name of Triton has long been established and in 

 use for a well-known genus of lizards. Link and Cuvier 

 called the shell Tritonium, and Schumacher Lampusia : 

 the former name, however, was preoccupied by Miiller ; 

 and, although it has been superseded, some confusion 

 might arise from the new application of it. Should any 

 change be necessary, Lampusia may be adopted. 



1. TRITON NOD I'FERUS*, (Lamarck) bl.^j. 



Triton nodiferum, Lam. An. s. V. vii. p. 179. 



BODY of a vermilion tint, marbled with diffused spots of 

 reddish-brown : mantle white [prettily variegated (Costa)] : 

 tentacles adorned with two black bands : foot having the sole 

 orangecolour. (Philippi.) 



SHELL conic -oblong, with an angulated outline, very strong 

 and solid, opaque, rather glossy : sculpture, a thick rib behind 

 the outer lip on the body- whorl, and one in a corresponding 

 position on each of the other whorls, which form varices and are 

 apparently the marks of annual growth ; the whole surface is 

 irregularly covered with numerous spiral ridges and finer in- 

 termediate striaB (besides close- set microscopic lines in the 

 same direction), the ridges being more or less tuberculated or 

 nodose : colour whitish, with a pale flesh tinge, variegated by 

 coffeecoloured spots, stripes, and blotches : epidermis brownish- 

 yellow, thin, and easily peeled off: spire elongated: whorls 

 8-10, swollen, and compressed upwards ; the last occupies 

 nearly two-thirds of the shell : suture rather slight : mouth 

 acute-angled at the upper and lower corners ; length about 

 one-half that of the spire : canal wide and deep, ending out- 

 side in a shallow notch : its edge is thick, but not reflec- 

 ted : outer lip semicircular, sloping or bevelled inwards, and 

 furnished inside with from 15 to 20 short coffeecoloured 



* Knot-bearing. 



