104 MURICID^. 



Subfamily MURIGIN^. 



MuREX, Linn. 



Spiny rock shell. Syn. — Aranea, Perry. Centronotus, Swn. 

 Muricanthus, Swn. MuriciJea, Swn. Haustellum, Klein. 

 Brontes, Moutf. 



Distr. — 200 sp. World-wide, mostly tropical and subtropical ; 

 low water to fifty fathoms or more. M. tenuispina, Lam. (xliii, 

 1). Fossil, 160 sp., commencing with the Eocene. 



Shell ovate or oblong ; spire prominent ; whorls convex, 

 crossed by three or more continuous varices ; aperture ending 

 below in a canal, which is generally partly closed. 



Murex erinaceus (xliii, 10) is a well-known depredator on the 

 oyster-beds of Europe, and is considered one of the most dan- 

 gerous enemies with which the ostreiculturist has to contend. 

 So destructive is it in the oyster-pares of Arcachon (near Bor- 

 deaux), that it is incessantly hunted by the fishermen, who spend 

 whole da3^s in destroying it by removing with a knife a portion 

 of the foot and the operculum, after which the animal is left to 

 die at its leisure or become the prey of other carnivores. The 

 Murex seats itself firmly upon the shell of the oj^ster, and applies 

 its rostrum to the surface of the latter, invariably at a poin^ 

 near the beak ; after which a regular movement of the body to 

 right and left ensues during a term of three or four hours, and 

 results in piercing a small, round hole through the oj^ster shell, 

 exposing the most essential viscera to the rapacity of the patient 

 tunneler. It is believed that the denticles of the tongue are 

 applied to the surface to be bored, and then the gyration of the 

 animal gradually rasps through the hole ; it has been supposed 

 by some that an acid solvent is also used in this operation, but 

 this is only conjectural. M. Fischer has observed at Arcachon 

 that young Murices choose j^oung oysters, whilst adults select 

 larger oysters. The bored oyster soon dies or else, exhausted, 

 opens its valves, when a myriad of other animals — crabs, mol- 

 lusks, worms, fishes — hasten to profit by the fruit of the winkle's 

 labor. — Jour. Conch. ^ 5, 1865. 



The ancients obtained their purple dj^e from species of Murex. 

 The small shells were bruised in mortars, the animals of the 

 larger ones taken out. Heaps of broken shells of the M. trun- 

 culus, and the caldron-shaped holes in the rocks where they 

 were triturated, may still be seen on the Tyrian shore. On the 

 coast of the Morea, there is similar evidence of the ancient 

 employment of M. brandaris for the same purpose. 



In the following synopsis of subgenei-a, the discriminative 

 characters used separate widely groups which really appear to 

 be closely related : thus, Cerostoma and Pteronotus are inti- 

 mately allied, notwithstanding the difference of the operculum ; 



