104 CARYCHIIDiE. 



on our coasts, which are closely allied, have been placed 



by some conchologists in different genera and removed 



from Melampm. The classification of all objects of 



Natural History is to a great extent artificial ; and the 



larger groups are more difficult to define than species. 



I prefer reducing the number of these divisions, and 



thus simplifying the nomenclature, unless characters of 



sufficient importance can be found to distinguish them. 



Lamarck^s name Auricula has precedence of Me- 



lampus by many years ; but the former name has been 



appropriated to shells, mostly tropical, of which the 



Voluta auris-MidcB of Linne is the type. The outer lip 



in Auricula has a thick and somewhat expanded edge. 



Conovulus of Lamarck is two years later than Melampus^ 



and is a mere synonym. Phytia and Aleooia have been 



proposed by Gray and Leach for M. myosotis ; and 



Ovatella, laminia, and Leuconia of Bivona, Leach, and 



Gray have M. bidentatus for their type. 



1. Melampus bidenta'tus"^, Montagu. 



Voluta hidentata. Mont, Test. Br. Suppl. p. 100, t. 30. f. 2. Cmamnlus 

 bidentatus, F. & H. iv. p. 191, pi. cxxv. f. 1, 2. 



Body white, of a frosty or reticulated texture: mantle 

 having its edge sometimes slightly protruded beyond the mouth 

 of the shell : head furnished with a curved lobe on each side : 

 snout narrow, cloven in front : tentacles very short, compressed, 

 variable in shape : eyes proportionally large, but dull, placed 

 a little behind the tentacles, at their base : foot oblong, squa- 

 rish in front and rounded behind ; when in action it is divided 

 across at about one -third of its length, so as to form two 

 creeping disks and to produce a wave-like or alternate motion : 

 respiratory orifice oblong and large. 



Shell spindle-shaped, usually rather solid, nearly opaque, 



glossy : sculpture, none except just below the suture, where 



there are slight and close-set longitudinal striae, scarcely 



visible to the naked eye : colour ivory-white ; epidermis thin 



* Two-tQQthed ; properly bidens. 



