3 8o 



THE SPOTTED NEEDLE-SHELL. 



sions when compared with the magnitude of its dwelling, and in both cases the creature 

 continually advances forward, taking up its residence in a chamber formed in the front 

 of the shell, and closing the passage behind in proportion to its advance. The chief 

 difference, however, between the two is, that the Magilus, being a fixed shell and in- 

 habiting a stony tunnel, needs not the delicately structured shell required by the active 

 nautilus, and therefore merely fills up the useless portions of the shell with solid matter, 

 requiring no hollow chambers and no tube of communication. 



THE three shells represented in the illustration belong to the same comprehensive 

 family. 



APPLE TUN-SHELL Dollum pomum. SPOTTED NEEDLE-SHELL. Terebra maculat* 



SPOTTED IVORY-SHELL. Eburoa areolata, 



The SPOTTED NEEDLE-SHELL, or SPOTTED AUGER, derives its name from the long and 

 sharply pointed form of the shell. More than one hundred species of this genus are 

 known, all inhabitants of the warmer seas, and the greater part resident within the 

 tropics. In all these shells, the aperture is very small and the canal short. As may 

 be seen by reference to the engraving, the operculum is small and pointed, having the 

 nucleus at the smaller extremity. In many species the animal is entirely blind ; and 

 even in those cases where eyes are present, they are very small, and set at the end of 

 the minute tentacles. The Spotted Needle-shell occupies the extreme right of the 

 illustration. 



The colors of this shell are very pretty. A broken band, composed of very dark and 

 large spots of rich brown, winds round the edge of each spire, and the rest of the shell 

 is covered with bands of pale brown and white, and longitudinal wavy streaks of 

 cream-white. 



