CHAPTER IX: THE CHANK SHELLS 



Family Turbinellid.^ 



Shells large, heavy, ventricose, smooth or tuberculated; 

 columellar plaits transverse, near middle, far apart; aperture 

 long; operculum thick, claw-like, with terminal nucleus. Animal 

 shy, sluggish in movements. A small tropical family, allied to 

 the Buccinidai and Fusidae. 



Genus TURBINELLA, Lam. 



Shell mostly fusiform, heavy; columella bearing one to five 

 compressed plaits; epidermis horny or fibrous; operculum 

 horny, pointed, small; surface of shell ornamented with a great 

 variety of sculpture and colouring. 



Several species are large-sized shells, qualifying for rank 

 among the molluscan nobility. They have characters of Murex 

 and Voluta joined. 



The Pear Turbinella (T. pyrum, Lam.) was named by 

 Linnaeus Voliiia pyrum. It has the characteristic folds on the 

 columella which was his basis for thus classifying it. Three blade- 

 like plaits wind across the middle of the columella. The inner 

 lip flares widely above. The outer lip is plain and thin. The 

 canal is long and straight. The swollen body whorl is keeled, 

 and coronated at the shoulder. The spire is depressed, and has 

 a knobbed apex. The surface is light coloured, spotted with 

 brown, under the olive-green epidermis; the lining is orange red. 

 Young shells are brightest. Length, 4 to 7 inches. 



Habitat. — Cevlon. 



Besides being the type of its genus, the Pear Turbinella is the 

 Chank or Shankh, the sacred shell of the Hindus, the national 

 emblem of the Kingdom of Travancore. The images of the god 

 Vishnu always carry a chank shell in one hand. The Vedas were 

 stolen by the giant chank shell, according to the legend, and 

 Vishnu took the form of a fish that he might go down and recover 



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