314 



777/: WOODCOCK'S HEAD. 



The larger of the two specimens represents the shell which is popularly known under the 

 name of Thorny Woodcock, the latter title being given to it, in common with several of its 

 congeners, on account of the long beak, which is thought to bear some resemblance to that of 

 the woodcock, and the former in allusion to the vast number of lengthened spines or thorns 

 which are arranged regularly over its surface. It has also received the equally appropriate and 

 more poetical name of Vents' Comb. 



This shell is found in the Indian Ocean, and varies greatly in dimensions, four or five 

 inches being about the average length. It is evident that as nothing is ever made in vain, or 

 to be wasted, the wonderful array of external spines must play some important part in nature, 

 if not in the economy of the particular species. But what that part may be. and what may 

 be the object of these beautiful structures, is a problem which seems almost insoluble, at all 

 events, with our present means of discovery. 



COMMON* WOODCOCK-SHELL.— Murex erindceus. 



THORNY WOODCOCK.— Murex (ennspmh. 



The color of the shell is very pale brown, each ridge being slightly tuberculated and 

 edged with white. The spines are uniform drab, or very pale brown, with an almost horny 

 transl licence. 



Another species is given in the same illustration, in order to show the animal and the posi- 

 tion of the eyes, to which reference has already been made. This is the common Woodcock, 

 or Hedgehog-shell. It is very much smaller than the thorny woodcock, and affords a good 

 example of the contrast that can often be effected by different animals which yet belong to the 

 same genus. Its length is hardly more than an inch and a half, and its color is a pale 

 yellowish-brown. 



One or two other species belonging to this genus require a. passing notice. The Wood- 

 cock's Head {Murex TiaMstellum), remarkable for its long peak and rounded shell, inhabits 

 the same localities as its more beautiful neighbor, being found in the Indian and Chinese seas. 

 Il has hut few of the spines which decorate the thorny woodcock in such profusion, and even 

 those which are seen upon the surface are comparatively short. The rounded body of the 

 shell, however, together with ils long 1 leaked process, does really bear some resemblance to 

 the head and bill of the bird from which it takes its popular name. 



