MARGINELLA. 401 



throughout, incurved and acute-angled above ; length coex- 

 tensive with that of the body- whorl : canal wide and open, 

 slightly bending to the left : outer lip thick and broad, forming 

 a distinct rim which is continued round the base ; inside 

 closely notched, or furnished with about 15 small teeth : inner 

 lip apparently wanting : pillar flexuous, having two or three 

 slight transverse plaits or folds at the base (the lowermost 

 being the strongest or most conspicuous), besides a row of 

 minute tubercles above the plaits, which exceed in number 

 the teeth of the outer lip. L. 0-4. B. 0-25. 



Yar. olilonga. Pure white, more elongated, and compressed 

 in front. 



HABITAT : Sandy ground, from 12 to 85 f., on every 

 part of our coast, from Guernsey to Unst ; local. Las- 

 key gives Dunbar; but his specimen in the British 

 Museum is M. Maugeria, a tropical species. The va- 

 riety is Zetlandic. M. lams occurs in the Red and 

 Coralline Crag, and (according to Woodward) in the 

 Norwich Crag also; Pont le Roy, in the Faluns of 

 Touraine (Cailliaud) ; Vienna basin (Homes) ; Italian 

 and Grecian tertiaries (Brocchi and others) . Brittany 

 (Delaunay, fide Tasle); Corunna to Gibraltar (M f An- 

 drew) ; both sides of the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, 

 and ^Egean : depths 8-55 f. 



The animal is very lively and active, a great beauty, 

 and by no means bashful. When on the march it 

 carries the branchial tube in an upturned position. 

 One pair, having crawled out of the water in a glass 

 jar, coupled for seven or eight hours; their union was 

 cruelly dissolved by immersion in boiling-water. The 

 size of the shell is extremely variable. The outer lip is 

 at first thin and sharp ; then it becomes inflected, and 

 has a plain edge; afterwards the lip is thickened and 

 notched. 



This is the Cypraa Valuta of Montagu, Valuta cy- 

 praola of Brocchi, and M. Donovani of Payraudeau; 



