The Whelks. Trumpet Shells 



The Channelled Whelk (F. canaliculatus. Say) is distin- 

 guished from its companion by the channel that follows its sutures. 

 The egg cases have not the double-keeled edge, but narrow to a 

 sharp margin. In most particulars the two species are alike. 



The Indians cut the long, white columella of the giant whelk 

 into beads to make their wampum belts. Three beads were 

 worth an English penny in early Colonial days in Massachusetts. 

 A fathom string was worth five shillings. In the South the shells 

 are often used to border garden beds and paths. Drinking vessels 

 were made of them by Indians. Fulgur flower pots are often 

 seen to-day in Florida. The sharp edge of the aperture made 

 cutting tools for the aborigines. Length, 6 to 9 inches. 



Habitat. — Cape Cod to Texas. 



The Pear Conch (F. pyrum, Dillw.) has a depressed, unarmed 

 spire, with a deep suture. The sculpture consists of alternately 

 weak and strong spiral stride and angular shoulder keels. Bands 

 of pale brown cross the white ground of the whorls. The canal 

 is long and tapering. Length, 4 to 5 inches. 



Habitat. — Florida and Gulf of Mexico. 



Genus EUTHRIA, Gray 



Shell spindle-shaped, smooth; aperture oval, ending in short, 

 recurved canal. Species, ten, widely distributed. 



The Dark Euthria (E. dira, Rve.), liver-coloured when the 

 ashy powder is removed, well represents the genus. Deep re- 

 volving channels, close together, engrave the surface. The spire 

 has longitudinal folds. Length, i to 2 inches. 



Habitat. — Monterey, Cal., to Sitka. 



Genus CANTHARUS, Bolt. 



Shell bucciniform, with swollen body whorl and narrowing to 

 base; aperture and spire of about equal length; siphonal canal at 

 posterior end of aperture; columella arched and faintly ridged. 

 About fifty species in warm seas. 



The Painted Cantharus (C. iincta, Conr.) has the form of a 

 typical Buccinum, with surface finely ribbed both ways, somewhat 

 tuberculated, with variegated markings of brown and white* 

 Length, i to 1 J inches. 



Habitat. — Florida, West Indies. 



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