CARRIER-TROCHUS. 249 



to Java, numerous specimens were obtained every time 

 the dredge was used. 



The Phori are very numerous in the China and Java 

 Seas, living in from fifteeen to thirty fathoms water, and 

 generally preferring a bottom composed of the detritus 

 of dead shells and sand, mixed with mud. I have 

 described the animal, for the first time, in the ' Annals 

 and Magazine of Natural History.' As a curious adapta- 

 tion of means to answer a certain purpose, the mode of 

 progression of these singular Mollusks is peculiar, and de- 

 serving of notice. They crawl like a tortoise, by lifting 

 and throwing forward the shell, with the tentacles 

 stretched out, the proboscis bent down and the operculum 

 trailing behind. As they invariably inhabit places where 

 the surface is rough, and would not admit of a gliding 

 motion, nature has ordained that they should progress by 

 a succession of small jumps, or tumbling evolutions. In 

 the shortness of the foot, long annulated proboscis, and 

 cylindrical body, these Mollusks resemble somewhat those 

 of Imperator, but the sessile eyes, divided foot, and 

 nature of the operculum, render them a perfectly distinct 

 family. In the operculum being partially free, they ap- 

 proximate to Solarium, whilst the short divided foot, 

 cylindric body, and long extensile trunk, reminds one of 

 the animal of lanthina. They are small for the size of 



v 



the shell, and have much the general appearance of the 

 animal of Strombus, like which they appear to walk, but 

 their eyes are sessile. In order to enable them to escape 

 from their enemies, nature has instructed them to cover 

 their shells with the same materials as those of the banks 

 which they inhabit. Sometimes for this purpose they 



