BRITISH WOODCOCK-SHELL. Murex erindceus. 



THORNY WOODCOCK. Murex Unuupinia. 



ON the right-hand may be seen the empty shell of the -ORANGE-MOUTHED SPIDER- 

 SHELL, so disposed as to exhibit the curious projecting horns, with their sharp points and 

 bold curves. It is worthy of notice that in all the Spider-shells these projections are not 

 developed until the creature has attained adult age, the young Spider-shell resembling 

 that of the stromb. From the peculiar shape of some of the species, these creatures are 

 sometimes called SCORPION-SHELLS. 



The colour of the Orange-mouthed Spider-shell is creamy white on the exterior, and 

 rich orange within. The curved spines are white and shining, and bear no small 

 resemblance to the poison-teeth of serpents. 



THE shells that are included in the family of the Muricidse may readily be distinguished 

 by the straight beak or canal in front, and the absence of any such canal behind The 

 eyes of these animals are not placed on long footstalks, as in the preceding family, but are 

 set directly on the tentacles, without any supporting stalk or projection. All the animals 

 belonging to this family are not only carnivorous, but rapacious, preying on other molluscs, 

 and destroying them with the terrible armature called the tooth-ribbon, and which, when 

 examined with the microscope, proves to be a set of adamantine teeth, sharp-edged and 

 pointed as those of the shark, and cutting their way through the hard shells of their 

 victims as the well-known cordon saw passes through thick blocks of hard wood. 



About one hundred and eighty species are known to belong to the typical genus, and 

 there is hardly a portion of the world where a Murex of some kind may not be found. 



THE larger of the two specimens represents the shell which is popularly known under 

 the name of THORNY WOODCOCK, the latter title being given to it, in common with several 

 3. B u .' 



