THE NAUTILUS. yay 
at once by its very oval, compressed and translucent shell with very 
fine and sharp concentric groovings. So far I have not found it in 
the fossil state. 
NOTES ON MOLLUSKS OF FLORIDA. 
BY JOSEPH WILLCOX. 
In THE Nautitus for November, 1894, the writer referred 
to the habits of many species of mollusks which he observed on the 
west coast of Florida. The present paper has been written in con- 
tinuation of the same subject. 
It is an interesting matter, for personal observation, to witness the 
persistent and relentless warfare of the molluscan forms upon others 
of the same family in their quest for food. 
In the case of the oyster their enemies are not confined to members 
of the mollusca. In Florida waters they are preyed upon by num- 
erous enemies which ply their predaceous vocation during the 
twelve months of the year. 
Among the fishes the drum and the sheephead are the chief con- 
sumers of the oyster; the former devouring those of moderate size, 
while the latter confine their attention to the destruction of young 
oysters. 
In the vicinity of the oyster beds nearly all the sheephead fish are 
found with ragged and freshly-cut lips caused by the sharp edges of 
the young oysters which they break loose from the clusters. So per- 
sistent are the sheephead, in the destruction of the young oysters, 
that single individuals of the latter are comparatively rare ; and the 
survival of the species, in some localities, is, in a great measure, due 
to their protective habit of living in clusters. 
Coextensive with the destruction of the oyster by the fishes, refer- 
red to above, their consumption appears to be as great by their 
molluscan enemy the Melongena corona. 
Every oyster bed, on the west coast of Florida, from Cedar Keys 
to Cape Sable, is infested by these ostreeophagi, which persistently 
prey upon the oysters as the chief article of their diet. 
Their method of attack and subsequent destruction, from which 
there is no escape for the victim, is exceedingly ingenious, and is 
probably not unaccompanied by some measure of discomfort and 
even pain on the part of the aggressor. 
