259 



and long, tentacles subulate, with eyes at their exterior base; 

 mantle-lobes large, n fleeted over the shell ; siphon very long 

 and narrow. 



A few species inhabit the West Indies, Panama, Indian Ocean, 

 Philippines, etc. The genus appeared in the cretaceous, and 

 became widely spread in the tertiary, remains being found in 

 North and South America, Europe and Asia. 



The generic name has been made to include a number of groups, 

 such as Hemifusus, Melongena, etc., which' have but little in 

 common with the present genus. The type cited by Lamarck is 

 Bulla Jicus, Linn., which fixes its pertinence to the genus now 

 under consideration, and degrades to the synonymy such names 

 as Ficus, Klein, Ficula, Swains., and Sycotypus, H. and A. 

 Adams, not Browne. 



Mr. Arthur Adams writes : 



" The employment of the dredge gave me an opportunity of 

 here first observing the animal of Ficula, which very much 

 resembles that of Dolium in the large, thin, flattened foot, 

 rounded in front, with two sharp, angular, lateral processes, and 

 extended and acuminated behind ; in the long, recurved siphon, 

 and slender, tapering tentacula ; in having a long, extensile and 

 retractile proboscis ; in the position of the organs of vision ; and 

 in the general shape, structure, and lightness of the shell ; while 

 the singular fact of the mantle covering the sides of the shell, 

 would seem to approximate it to Calpurnus, Ovulum, Marginella 

 and the Cowries. 



"Although exceedingly timid and sensitive, the Ficula is a 

 very lively animal, when observed in its native waters, crawling 

 along with considerable velocity, and, owing probably to the 

 lightness of its shell, able to ascend with facility the sides of a 

 glass vessel, which held it captive. The proboscis is rarely 

 exserted when the animal is in motion ; but the long, tapering 

 tentacles are stretched out to their full extent, and the siphon is 

 directed more frequently forwards than over the back of the 

 animal. The animal of Ficula ficoides is light, marbled violet, 

 and the head and tentacles are white ; six white, opaque spots 

 are arranged round the upper surface of the edge of the foot ; 

 the rest of the bod} T is light delicate pink, with marbled mark- 

 ings of a darker pink. 



