144 BUCCINID^. 



produced and slightly deflected ; aperture elongate, labrum 

 simple ; labium incrusted with a thin, smooth plate ; suture 

 bordered by an elevated portion of the succeeding whorl as in 

 Clavella. It diflfers from Clavella in the very short spire and in 

 the short and slightly curved canal. 



Subfamily BUGCININjE. 



BucciNUM, Linnaeus. 



Etym. — Buccina, a trumpet. 



Syn. — Tritonium, Fabr. Halia, Macgill. 



Distr. — 22 sp. Arctic and boreal seas ; low water to 100 fath- 

 oms. B. uvdatum, Linn. (1, 2'7, 28). 



Shell ovate or oblong, covered with a horny epidermis ; spire 

 elevated, apex acute ; aperture large, oval, emarginate in front; 

 canal wide, very short, or a mere oblique truncation of the base 

 of the aperture ; columella smooth ; inner lip expanded ; outer 

 lip usually thin, smooth internally. Operculum ovate, nucleus 

 small near the outer front edge. 



The group of shells to which the generic name Buccinum was 

 originally applied, a century ago, by Linnasus, has been found by 

 subsequent investigation to contain many heterogeneous forms, 

 and has consequently been greatly subdivided. The name has 

 been retained for the genus typified by Buccinum undatum , by 

 common consent, and, I believe, in accordance with the best rules 

 of nomenclature. It is true that Linnaeus' first species — that 

 which is to be selected, as in cases where no type is distinctly 

 specified — is a Dolium. Bvit in the case of Linnaeus' genera, he 

 must be considered to have indirectly specified the type, as he 

 has expressly stated that, in his view, where it becomes necessary 

 to divide a group, formerly supposed to be one genus, the 

 original name must be retained for the subdivision containing 

 the most common species; in other words, that the most common 

 species must be considered as the type of its genus. And he 

 must therefore have regarded the B. undatum, the most common 

 of all his Buccinums, as the type of the genus. 



The Scandinavian naturalists have generally retained the name 

 Tritonium of Miiller for this genus, but Linnaeus' name has pri- 

 ority by many years Tritonium, as proposed, and as frequently 

 used since, would include both the Murex and the Buccinum of 

 Linnaeus. 



The genus Buccinum is restricted geographically to the tem- 

 perate and frigid seas of the northern hemisphere. Geologically, 

 the history of the genus commences in the Pliocene formation. 

 They are found in the European tertiary deposits of that age, 

 even as far south as the shores of the Mediterranean. They 

 become very numerous in the Pleistocene deposits, both of 



