CONID-<E. 18T 



the tentacles. Mantle enclosed, with an elongate siphon at the 

 fore-part. Foot simple, undivided, oblong, with a conspicuous 

 aquiferous pore on the middle of the under surface. 



Operculum, when present, rather small, ovate or unguiform, 

 with apical nucleus. 



The great famil^^ of Cones, characterized by the peculiar 

 structure of the mouth, no less than by the similarity in the 

 form of the shell, are principally inhabitants of the equatorial 

 seas. Haunting the holes and fissures of rocks, and the laby- 

 rinths of coral-reefs, the}^ lead a predator}^ life, boring into the 

 shells of other mollusks and sucking the juices from their bodies. 

 In the Asiatic region the species seem greatly to predominate, 

 whilst but two or three inhabit European seas, and about fifty 

 the tropical shores of America. Low-water to 30 or 40 fathoms. 



The teeth of Conus (x, 5) serve for attack or defense. Mr. 

 Arthur Adams ' Voy. Samarang ^ ii, 356) relates that, at the 

 Moluccas, Sir Edward Belcher was bitten by a Cone, which sud- 

 denly exserted its proboscis as he took it out of the water with 

 his hand, and he compares the sensation he experienced to that 

 produced by the burning of phosphorus under the skin. The 

 bite leaves a small, deep, triangular mark, which is succeeded by 

 a watery vesicle. 



Conus, Linn. 



Distr. — About 300 recent sp., and nearly 100 fossil forms. 

 Cretaceous — . (7. marmoreus, Linn. (Iviii, 42). 



Shell thick, obconic, whorls enrolled upon themselves, the 

 spire short, or not elevated, smooth or tuberculated ; aperture 

 elongated, narrow, the margins parallel, truncated at the base ; 

 the outer lip with a slight sutural sinus. The typical group is 

 limited by H. and A. Adams to species with regularly conic 

 shell, short or depressed spire and coronated whorls. 



STEPHANOCONUS, Morch. Spire elevated, sutures concave. G. 

 cedonulli^ Linn, (lix, 44). 



puNCTicuLis, Swains. Spire slightly elevated, coronated, last 

 whorl ventricose. G. ptdicarius, Brug. (Iviii, 43). 



CORONAXIS, Swains. Shell a little turbinated, spire elevated, 

 convex, coronated. C. ve?'miculatus, Lam. (Iviii, 45). 



CYLiNDRELLA, Swains. Cyliudrically conic, with revolving 

 striae; spire elevated, concave. G. sulcatus^ Brug. (Iviii, 46). 



NUBECULA, Klein. (Tuliparia, Swains.) Shell light, subcylin- 

 drical ; spire short, but pointed at the summit, whorls slightly 

 coronated ; aperture effuse, emarginate in front, columella 

 smooth ; outer lip with a wide but not deep notch at the suture. 

 M. Quoy observes of this group that the foot is very large, 

 and not entirely retractile within the shell, as in other members 

 of the family ; the anterior marginal groove conceals a large 

 pore, the aperture of an aquiferous canal ; the tubular veil is 



