BUCClNlDiE. 13T 



across by a few lines ; the opening is a wide slit, lying just under 

 the top which makes a narrow flap. 



" Before leaving the capsule the fry are pei'fectly formed, with 

 conspicuous tentacles, eyes, and operculum ; their shell has two 

 whorls, the first being smooth, and the other showing a few 

 slight incipient strise. Each capsule produces only from two to 

 four fry. The latter end of winter appears to be the spawning- 

 season ; on the 26th of January, 1861, 1 examined fresh capsules 

 which contained merel}" eggs immersed in a glairy liquid ; and 

 seven days afterwards I found in the other capsules full-sized and 

 living young whelks." 



JUMALA, Friele, 1882. (Chrysodomus, in part.) Central plate 

 small, quadrangular, unarmed, laterals hooked, with two small 

 teeth on the inner margin. N. Tiirtoni, Bean. The dentition 

 forms an insufficient distinction of this group from the typical 

 Neptunese. 



voLUTOPSis, Morch. (Syn. — Strombella, Gray.) Shell smooth, 

 ovate, ventricose ; spire short, apex bulbaceous ; last whorl rather 

 large ; aperture ver}^ large, the lip considerably expanded; canal 

 scarcelj^ produced, widely obliquely truncate. Operculum irreg- 

 ularly ovate, with apical nucleus. N. Norvegica, Chemn. (xlix, 8). 



The shells of this division are characterized by their large 

 mouths, expanded lips, want of distinctly produced canal, etc. 

 The small operculum is (in F. Norvegica) more ovate than in 

 the true Neptuneae ; the dentition also, varies from the typical 

 form. Yolutopsis appears to stand between IS'eptunea and 

 Buccinum. 



HELiOTROPis, Dall. (Pyrulofusus, Beck.) Shell thin, sinistral, 

 apex mammillated. Operculum relatively very small. 



The essential character of this group is the reversed direction 

 of the spire, placing the aperture on the left instead of the right 

 side of the shell. The principal species have been considered 

 by good conchologists as mere monstrosities of dextral species ; 

 thus Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys regards N. contraria, Linn, (xlix, 9) 

 as equivalent to N. antiqua. But of this species it has been 

 shown that it has an extensive distribution in Southern Europe, 

 where the normal N. antiqua is unknown, and that the so-called 

 reversed antiqua is very rare where the normal form is abundant. 



SiPHO, Klein. 



Syn. — Atractus, Agassiz. Tritonofusus, Beck. 



Distr. — 3Y sp. Arctic and Boreal, Atlantic and Pacific, Europe, 

 Asia and America. S. ventricosus, Gray (xlix, 10). 



Shell thin, pyriform or fusiform, not tuberculate or spiny, 

 usually smooth and rounded whorls ; spire moderate ; canal pro- 

 duced and recurved. Operculum ovate, nucleus apical. 



10 



