BUCCINUM. 355 



The name Buccinum comes from " buccina," a 

 trumpet, but it is difficult to get evidence that Buccinum 

 undatum was ever used as a musical instrument. Species 

 of Triton seem to be most used for this purpose, and 

 Turbinella (the Chank Shell) is used in Ceylon by the 

 Buddhists. The Chinese use a species of Fusus for the 

 same purpose. The shell of Fusus antiquus is also used 

 occasionally in the Scottish Isles as a rude lamp, in which 

 to burn the oil of sea-birds. 



The two closely related families, the Muricidae and 

 Buccinidae, contain various genera and species, which 

 have figured, perhaps, more than most marine animals, 

 in the histories and traditions of ancient peoples. They 

 have played an important part in religion, mythology 

 and war, in the production of ornaments, and in the 

 preparation of the famous " Tyrian " purple dyes. 



The whelk crawls about the sea-bottom by means of 

 its muscular foot, and when kept in large aquarium 

 tanks occasionally creeps above the level of the water. 

 It seems to remain, however, about a foot or so above the 

 surface, and never crawls further up. It was observed 

 at Port Erin, on every occasion on which whelks were 

 turned into a large tank into which a stream of water 

 was running, that they found their way towards the 

 entrance pipe. They then remained either just below or 

 just above the level of the water, in the latter case bathed 

 by the spray, although the water was well aerated in 

 every part of the tank. 



The whelk appears to be omnivorous so far as its 

 diet is concerned, and dead (but fresh) or living 

 organisms seem equally acceptable. The food, which is 

 scraped away by i<s jaw apparatus, is taken into the 

 stomach in a finely divided state, and little information 

 as to its character can lie gathered from an examination 

 of the stomach contents. 



