The Spindle Shells and Band Shells 



The Morocco Fusus (F. Maroccanus, Gmel.) is left-handed, 

 but one inch long, and has a short canal, twisted to the right. 

 Its finely ribbed whorls coil in a slanting position as if lifted by 

 the large mouth. There seems to be doubt as to the location of 

 this species, set down by some authority to the West Indies. 



The spindles of colder waters are small and have a more 

 ovoid shape. 



The Ashy Fusus (F. cinereus, Rve., F. luteopictus, Dall) 

 has a long spire and short canal. Strong folds and ribs cross to 

 produce a latticed surface, marked with ashy blue on a white 

 ground. The mouth has a brown lining. Length, i inch or less. 



Habitat. — San Francisco to San Diego, Cal. 



F. Kobelti, Dall, white, spirally pencilled with brown, with 

 rounded, finely ribbed whorls crossed by sharp-edged folds, is a 

 little known species. Length, 2 to 2^ inches. 



Habitat. — Catalina Island and Monterey, Cal. 



The Scorched Fusus (F. ambustus, Gld.), brownish yellow 

 as if scorched, has eight keeled whorls, crossed by eight rounded 

 varices and encircled by narrow, elevated ridges, separated by 

 wide depressions. The roundish aperture is somewhat small; 

 the columella smooth ; channel short. Length, i to i f inches. 



Habitat. — Mazatlan. 



THE BAND SHELLS 

 Genus FASCIOLARIA, Lam. 



Shell spindle-shaped, with sharp spire, and long, oval aperture 

 ending in an open, straight or twisted canal ; body Whorl swollen ; 

 surface spirally banded; columella smooth, with a few anterior, 

 oblique plaits; lip crenulated within; operculum claw-shaped, 

 filling the aperture. Animal as in Fusus, slow of movement, 

 crawling on mud flats or burying all but the tip of the spire in 

 the sand. Conspicuously large and handsome shells, distributed 

 in shallows of all warm seas. Species, fourteen living, thirty 

 fossil. 



The Orange Band Shell (F. aurantiaca, Lam.) is buff orange 

 mottled with white in an irregular pattern. The whorls are 

 keeled and set with blunt nodules. Fine dark lines in pairs wind 

 spirally from the apex. This showy species, called "the Persian 



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