404 CYPILEID.E. 



the back or upper part of the shell, which it oftens covers 

 completely ; it is more or less studded with conical or wart- 

 like processes, some of which frequently are branched and 

 others longer than the rest ; colour pale orange-brown with 

 the papillaa yellow or white, and occasionally variegated by 

 red spots and a few purplish blotches : pallial tube conico- 

 cylindrical, rather long, projecting horizontally or somewhat 

 upturned; this is also studded with papillae, and is orange 

 or light yellowish-brown ; edges of the orifice slightly reflexed : 

 proboscis long : tentacles long, flexible, tapering to a blunt 

 point, and widely diverging ; they are speckled with yellow : 

 eyes on short stalks at the outer bases of the tentacles : foot 

 expansile, so as to be twice the length of the shell, in front 

 truncated, with small angular corners, behind rounded or 

 obtuse-angled ; it is pale yellowish-brown, and edged with a 

 rather broad border of a lighter tint ; sole whitish, yellow, or 

 orange : verge large, orange : jaws elliptical and horny : 

 odontopJiore short. 



SHELL roundish-oval, solid, opaque, and glossy : sculpture, 

 from 20 to 25 fine thread-like ribs, which cross the back of 

 the shell or body- whorl, and are continued within the mouth ; 

 a few of these ribs anastomose, or are shorter and placed 

 between others of full length ; those at each end are fork-like ; 

 their interstices (especially on the underside of the shell) are 

 microscopically pustulated: colour pale reddish-brown or 

 fleshcolour (sometimes whitish) above, often variegated by 

 three purplish-brown spots along the back, one at each end 

 and the third in the middle; the underside of the shell is 

 white ; ribs paler in highly coloured specimens : spire very 

 short, more or less concealed in the adult ; apex of young 

 shells (in which alone it is visible) not unlike that of Natica : 

 whorls, apparently a single one which enwraps all the others ; 

 in the young between 3 and 4 may be counted : suture in 

 the early state of growth slight, afterwards coated over: 

 mouth slit-like, nearly of the same width throughout, and 

 somewhat arched : canal very short and straight, exhibiting 

 on the outside a conspicuous notch : outer lip very thick, 

 broad, and rounded ; edge notched by the ribs : inner lip 

 scarcely perceptible : pillar gently curved, angulated or 

 ridged on the outside, with a cavity or depression underneath ; 

 inside traversed by the ribs, and notched. L. 0-45. B. 0-35. 



HABITAT : All our coasts, on stony and coral ground, 



