EXOTIC CONCHOLOGY. 



MOLLUSCA. 



Order— GASTEROPODA. 



Tribe— ZOOPHAGA. 



Family— MURICID^. 



Pillar never plaited ; shell spiral, the base narrowed, and cither truncated or slightly 



produced. 

 Sub-Family — Muricin^. Spire as long as the aperture : exterior rough, the whorls 



marked with varices : aperture wide. 

 Genus — Mcrex. Varices from three to five on each whorl; the inner lip smooth ; the 



spire much shorter than the aperture : an external groove at the upper angle of 



the aperture. 

 Suh-Geiius — Phyllonotus. Canal moderate; varices foUated, laciniated, compressed 



or resembling leaves. 



PHYLLONOTUS REGIUS. THE KINGLY ROCK SHELL. 



Plate XV. 



Testa ovato-subglobosa, transversim sulcata, sexfariam duplicato-spinosa ; spinis canahcu- 

 latis rubentibus : albo-lutescente posterius purpurascente : suturis fascia piceo- 

 uigra zonatis : labio interiore supra piceo-nigro, subtus roseo ; umbilico subtecto : 

 Cauda sub-asceudente. 



M. Regius, Wood's Cat. sup. Murex, fig. 13. 



Shell roundish ovate, transversely furrowed, and armed with six broad varices, 

 each composed of two ranges of canaliculated pinkish spines ; colour yellowish- 

 white, becoming purplish towai'ds the base, with a pitchy black enamel-like band 

 winding down the sutures, and expanding over the upper part of the inner lip, the 

 lower portion of which assumes the rich colour of the rose: umbilicus nearly if not 

 quite concealed by the projection of the inner lip. Size four inches. Habitat 

 South Seas. This lovely shell, although not rare, has been known to collectors but 

 comparatively a few years. It is usually met with in a polished condition, in which 

 state brown bands begird the body-whorl, and where they traverse the varices, 



