BUCCINID-iE. 145 



Europe and North America, but reach their maximum develop- 

 ment in the existing seas. 



The shells of the genus Buccinum are peculiarly liable to 

 variation in form and sculpture, and to obsolescence or erosion 

 of the surface markings. This variability, an ordinary charac- 

 teristic of Arctic shells, renders the discrimination of species 

 extremely difficult. 



B. undatum (1, 21, 28) is common to the shores of the northern 

 part of the United States and Europe. Mr. G vvyn Jeffreys writes 

 about it as follows : 



. "American specimens of the common sort are smaller than 

 European ; and Stimpson endeavors to show that they belong to 

 a distinct species, because of '■a. fades difficult to describe.' If 

 the supposed difference cannot be defined by any words or delinea- 

 tion, and the onl}!- substitute offered is the nearly exploded idea 

 of representation of species, it is a pity that naturalists should 

 be so unnecessarily perplexed. 



"In Scotland and Shetland this common shell-fish is called 

 'Buckie,' in the Isle of Man (according to Forbes) 'mutlag,' in 

 Holland ' wulk' (Born), in France ' bouche-aurore ' (Lamarck), 

 at Brest 'grosse bigorne,' and at Rochelle 'burgau morchon ' 

 (De Montfort), and in La Manche 'ran' (De (^erville). The 

 common generic name in English is 'whelk.' The animal emits 

 a thin and copious slime. From its size and toughness it makes 

 a good subject for anatomical demonstration — although Cuvier 

 has left very little to be known about that part of its history. 

 It burrows in the sand like Natica catena ; and its foot is simi- 

 larly traversed by numerous canals, which admit of its being 

 distended by water ; this enters by an orifice at the upper corner 

 of the mouth of the shell, and finds its way, through the abdom- 

 inal cavity, into the vascular system of the foot. When it burrows, 

 the end of the pallial tube or siphon is either exposed or but 

 slightly covered by the sand, so as to supply the gills with water 

 or air as the case may require. Beudant's experiments show 

 that it cannot live in fresh water. The formation of two opercula 

 by the same individual appears to be congenital, and not owing 

 to an injurj^ of the opercular lobe, which would cause an aborted 

 or defective growth ; for in some of these monstrous specimens 

 the twin opercula are so large that they are doubled or folded 

 inwards, side by side, in order to fit the mouth of the shell. 

 This mollusk is very voracious, and is often caught on the fisher- 

 men's hooks. Orsted tells us, in his interesting treatise, 'De 

 regionibus marinis,' that great numbers of B. undatum and 

 Fusus antiquus are collected in the Cattegat for fish-bait, by 

 putting a dead cod into a wicker basket and letting it down on 

 a muddy bottom ; it is soon taken up half-filled with whelks. The 

 same method is adopted for their capture on the English and Irish 



