CHAPTER VII: THE WHELKS. TRUMPET SHELLS 



Family BucciNiOi^E 



Shell usually thick, oblong to fusiform, with canal of moder- 

 ate length or short; periostracum thick; columella without folds; 

 outer lip simple, often thickened; operculum horny. 



A large and aggressive family of carnivorous habits, ranging 

 from tropical to circumpolar seas. 



Genus MELONGENA, Schum. 



Shell pear-shaped, solid, dark-coloured, or banded; spire 

 short, set with knobs and spines; aperture oval; canal short; 

 columella and lip smooth; operculum solid, claw-like; nucleus 

 apical. Comprises about a dozen species in warm seas of both 

 hemispheres. 



The Crown Melongena (M. corona, Gmel.) has its whorls 

 adorned with a coronal of curved, flattened spines. The longi- 

 tudinal line of growth rise at base also in a secondary row of 

 spines. Between the two is a flat space, banded with white on the 

 bluish or chestnut ground. The surface is polished. In var. 

 bispinosa the spiny crown is a double row of smaller cusps. In 

 some forms the basal spines are missing. Sometimes there are 

 no spines at all. Length, 2J to 5 inches. 



Habitat. — Florida, West Indies. 



The only mollusk that can kill one of these agile carnivors 

 is the giant band shell, which overpowers it by main strength, 

 and encloses it completely by the folds of its great foot. Any 

 other rival discreetly yields whatever might be the subject of 

 controversy, unless it is resigned to fight and be beaten. 



The creature lives by preference in brackish water, feeding 

 on clams and their kin, including the razor and the non-resistant 

 oyster. Several individuals, often more than a dozen, may be 

 seen in a circle around an oyster that has guardedly closed its 

 shell. They patiently wait until the weary bivalve relaxes its 



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