8 TRITON. 



exceptional advantages can hope to acquire a competent knowl- 

 edge of the names in use in a single department, and no one 

 possesses the time or acquaintance with general zoology which 

 would be necessary to avoid duplications. The alternative adop- 

 tion of the name Tritonium has its difficulties : it is more gener- 

 ally known in connection with a Buccinoid group, and it is too 

 close to Cuvier 's genus Tritonia. 



Reeve says* : The Tritons are shells oi much more solid structure 

 than the Murices or Ranellae, and of much more simple growth. 

 They are not furnished with any spines nor have they any rami- 

 fied branches like the Murices ; the rude manner in which the 

 whorls are convoluted seem rather to indicate that their animal 

 inhabitant, though possessing abundant power of calcification, is 

 of somewhat sluggish growth. The epidermis of the Tritons is 

 often remarkably thick, hairy and bristly, and is sometimes 

 accompanied with small tufts of bristles. Another curious pecu- 

 liarity in these shells is the structure of the apex ; it appears in 

 numerous instances to be formed of horny substance, thinly 

 plated with shelly matter, and it is not an uncommon thing to 

 find examples in which the calcareous plating is broken off so as 

 to expose the horny cast underneath. The coluinella of the 

 Tritons is generally covered with a bright coat of wrinkled 

 enamel, and the outer lip becomes thickened in a manner exceed- 

 ingly curious ; upon arriving at maturity the lip curls under so 

 as to form a deep, broad channel or gutter, and this is then filled 

 up to form the thickened lip. The varices are all constructed in 

 the same manner, each forming for a time the margin of the 

 aperture ; they are destined, it is conjectured, to protect the lip 

 during a season of rest, and it would be extremely interesting if 

 it could be discovered what length of time ordinarily elapses 

 between the formation or deposit of the varix and the renewal 

 of the operation of growth. 



Mr. Arthur Adainst mentions the adaptation of the Trumpet- 

 shell ( T. tritonis) to the purposes of a tea-kettle by the inhabitants 

 of the Typinsan archipelago, near the Loo-Choo Islands ; the 

 operculum forming the lid, the canal answering the purpose of a 



* Conch. Icon., Vol. II, Triton, 1844. 

 f Narrative Voy. Samarang, I, 89. 



