MUREX. 305 



to the liberality of Dr. Lukis and Mr. Macculloch ; I 

 likewise have one in the Turtonian collection. T. cu- 

 taceus is not uncommon on the coasts of the north, west, 

 and south of France, and those of Spain, Portugal, 

 Italy, Algiers, and the Canary Isles. 



Young shells resemble stunted specimens of Murex 

 erinaceus. 



No habitat is given by Linne for his Murex cutaceus ; 

 his description and reference to Seba's figure may apply 

 to some tropical species of Triton. I should have pre- 

 ferred considering the present species his M. pileare, 

 which he says is Mediterranean. Our shell is the type 

 of De Montfort's genus Aquillus. 



The obliging attention of the Rev. Dr. Robinson has 

 enabled me to examine and compare the unique speci- 

 men of T. elegans, Thompson (Ann. & Mag. N. H. xv. 

 p. 317, pi. xix. f. 1), stated to have been found by the 

 late Dr. Farran alive at Portmarnock in Dublin Bay, 

 and now in the public museum at Armagh. It is the 

 Hindsia angusticostata of Pease, a common shell of the 

 Sandwich Islands. Portmarnock has been from the 

 time of Turton a prolific source of such erroneous ad- 

 ditions to the catalogue of British shells. 



Genus III. MUREX*, Linne. PL V. f. 5. 



SHELL more or less turreted, ribbed lengthwise and ridged 

 spirally, so as to form an imbricated kind of sculpture, often 

 with prickly points ; the body-whorl has more than one varix : 

 spire prominent and sharp-pointed ; apex mammiform : outer 

 lip plaited or tuberculated within : pillar smooth : canal rather 

 long, narrow, covered over, turning obliquely to the left : oper- 

 culum oval ; nucleus placed at the lower side of the outer lip. 



The name of this genus (as well as 7rop</>vpa, purpura, 

 * The name given by Pliny to a kind of shell-fish. 



