BUCCINID^; BUCCINUM OR WHELK. 



375 



and the spire is usually distinct and conical. Like the Mollusks 

 of the preceding families, the Volutes are almost confined to the 

 tropical seas, and from the elegance of their form and colouring 

 they are much sought after by collectors. 



989. The BUCCINID^E, or Whelks, have a broad foot, well 

 adapted for creeping, which usually bears an operculum ; the 

 eyes are placed on the tentacles or at their base. The shell 

 generally has the aperture wider than in the preceding families, 

 and its anterior margin is either notched or furnished with a 

 short canal directed upwards. This family includes an immense 

 number of species, which vary greatly in form, and are distributed 

 in all seas. The animals of many species are used as food, 



those of the Buccinum 

 undatum of our own 

 shores being known as 

 Whelks. The shells are 

 not remarkable for bril- 

 liant colours ; but they 

 present many interesting 

 varieties of form and 

 marking. They obtain 

 their food by means of a 

 long proboscis, inclosing 

 a tongue that is furnished 

 with sharp teeth at its 

 extremity ; by means of which they bore into other shells, and 

 extract the animal from the interior. This proboscis is not 

 merely adapted, like that of the elephant, to bend itself in all 

 directions ; but it may be entirely retracted into the body, by 

 means of a complex muscular apparatus, which completely draws 

 back the point, and the half of the proboscis nearest to it, into 

 the half attached to the head ; just as when the finger of a 

 glove is pushed back into the part that incloses the palm. When 

 the proboscis is extended, the tongue is protruded, and by the 

 file-like action of its teeth, even the hardest shells are worn away. 

 These carnivorous Mollusks are not restricted in their destruc- 



PKJ. 668. BUCCIXUM UNDATUM. 



