CONCHS. WHALES. 239 
chiefly prized for its beautiful shell, the color of which is a light 
cream profusely mottled with brown umber and black. Its rarity 
and beauty secures for it a relatively very high price. 
The Queen Conch is far more common than the King Conch, 
and its shell is larger in size and somewhat smoother in outline. 
The back of the shell is pure white, and the tip a yellow tint, 
while the interior is a dark brown. It is extensively used in the 
manufacture of cameos. 
The Twist Conch, (triton tritonis), is very rare and always com- 
mands from visitors a high price. It is regular in form and 
beautifully mottled with brown and wine colors. Mr. Phelps 
deems it unquestionably the most exquisitely beautiful shell of 
its size found in the Bahamas. 
A separate volume with illustrations, would be required to do 
anything like justice to the small mollusks whose shells pave and 
adorn the shores of the Bahamas. 
Mr. Bruce in the work from which we have already quoted, 
published nearly a century and a-half ago, expresses the opinion 
that, ‘‘a beneficial whale fishery might be established here, [in 
the Bahamas, | as that fish comes in great numbers to wean their 
young among the islands, and several have been thrown ashore 
full of spermaceti.” While we were at Port Royal, S. C., re- 
cently, we learned that several vessels from that vicinity are 
now prosecuting a successful business in capturing whales off 
that coast. Between Nassau and Florida, we also occasionally 
observed specimens of that great mammal of the ocean, which 
has done so much to dispel the darkness of the civilized portion 
of the world. 
In taking leave of the Bahama fishes, so far as unsatisfactory 
printed descriptions are concerned, it is a consolation to know: 
that they and their gorgeous surroundings will continue with us 
through life—for memory has embalmed them. The poet sings 
