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THE SHELL-COLLECTING PHORUS. 



familiar. When they walk they fix the head firmly, then draw up the body in an arch, 

 fix the foot, and then push the head forward. The foot is short and rounded at each 

 end. 



The shell is very small, about the size of a split sweet pea, and would escape the eye 

 of ordinary observers. The animal is furnished with short and diverging tentacles, the 

 head is divided into two lobes, and the eyes are placed in the centre behind the ten- 

 tacles. 



THE second figure in the engraving is the INDIAN PHORUS, or MINERALOGIST, a 

 name given to the creature in allusion to its extraordinary habit of agglutinating bits 

 of stones and other substances to its shell. Sometimes it prefers other shells, either 

 in fragments or entire, and is then termed the CONCHOLOGIST. In one example shown 

 to me by Mr. Sowerby, the creature had selected a number of shells of a tiny bivalve, 



SHELL-COLLECTING PHORUS. Phorus conchylophorus. 



and had stuck them round the edges of its own shell in such a manner that they form 

 a spiral line, marking the growth of the shell. One or two little bits of stone accom- 

 pany them, and they all lie with the hollow upwards. The animal has a rather long 

 proboscis, and long tentacles, with the eyes set at their outer bases. The foot is long 

 and narrow behind. 



The outer lip is very curious in its structure, being extremely thin, projecting above 

 and receding below. The operculum is horny, and formed by overlapping scales. 

 The color of the Indian Phorus is yellowish brown above, and pearly white within. 

 The edges of the lip are ragged and crumpled like those of a withered leaf. 



IN the accompanying illustration is represented a magnificent specimen of the SHELL- 

 COLLECTING PHORUS, where the animal has contrived to group itself around with the 

 different shells that are figured. The long-pointed shells are clubs, or cerithinae a Venus- 



