275 



In the third family, Mnsicales, (commonly called 

 Music Shells, from many of their species being marked 

 with a pattern strongly resembling musical notes and 

 lines), the shells are tuberculated at the spire, as in the 

 V. Musica. 



And in the fourth family, Fusoidea, (Spindle Vo- 

 lutes) the shells are more elongated, the spire more 

 produced, and no spines or tubercles on the whorls, as 

 in the V. magnifica. 



In all of the above species the spire is mammillary 

 or obtuse ; the columella more or less plaited ; the 

 lower plaits larger and more obi ique than the upper ones; 

 and a notch at the base. . Shell oval, mdre or less ven- 

 tricose, fusiform, or conical; aperture effuse; right lip 

 smooth, generally sharp, and never dentated. La- 

 marck observes that none of the species of this genus 

 are " pourvue de drap marin," which can only be trans- 

 lated — not having an epidermis : this is an error; as 

 nrany species possess a thin filmy external coat, answer- 

 ing to what in other shells has been called by him a false 

 epidermis; and all the Melons have a strong and very 

 thick epidermis. It may also be well to remark that the 

 number of plaits on the columella is in general uniform in 

 t2 



