UNIVALVE MOLLUSC A. 



463 



ornamental, for some of the streets of Vera Cruz are said to be 

 paved with Strombus gigas. 



The animal which inhabits this shell presents a distinct head, pro- 

 vided with a trunk or snout, and with two tentacles or horns, each 

 bearing a large and vividly-coloured eye. The foot is compressed and 

 divided into two portions, the posterior one, which is the longest, bear- 

 ing a horny operculum. In the eagle-winged Strombus, represented 

 in Figs. 3C3 and 304, these several peculiarities are well developed. 

 This shell is large, turbinate, distended in the middle, with an acutely- 



Fig. 304. — Shell of Stiombiis gigas. 



'^'S- 3°3- — Strombus gallus (Linn.). 



pointed spire studded with conical tubercles, the right edge very 

 broad, rounded off below. The opening is of a vivid rose purple 

 fading into white. It is a native of the Antilles. 



Strombus gallus, or the Angel-winged (Fig. 297), is veined with 

 stripes of white and red, and comes from the coasts of Asia and 

 America. Strombus luhuanus (Fig. 306) is fawm-coloured, marked 

 with white, externally the right edge is red and striped, inside the 

 columella is shaded purple and black. 



Stro/nbus ca?iccllatus, the trellised Strombus (Fig. 307), is small 

 in size, and white in colour. Strombus thcrsites is also represented 

 in Fig. 308. 



The genus Pteroceras, from Tnephv, wing, and Kepas, horn, in many 

 respects resembles the genus Strombus. The species are distinguished 



