48 Beautiful Shells. 



Mollusks ; it is called by naturalists Buccinum un- 

 datum ; the first, or generic term, being the Latin 

 for a trumpet, and the second, or specific name, 

 meaning waved, or, as we often say, undulated. 

 So we call this the Waved Whelk ; fishermen term 



it the Conch, or the Buckie, and tell strange stories 

 of its ravenous appetite and murderous propensities; 

 how, with its spiny tongue, situated at the end of 

 a long flexible proboscis or trunk, it drills a hole in 

 the shell of the Oyster, or other testacean, and 

 sucks out the contents; empty shells, so drilled, 

 are frequently found on the shore, and often, when 

 the dredge is let down into an oyster bed, it comes 

 up time after time filled with Whelks, of which 

 such numbers are sometimes taken, that they are 

 sold to the farmers to be used as manure for the 

 soil. This mollusk is a favourite article of food 

 with the poorer classes of our land, but it is hard 

 and indigestible. The shell may frequently be 

 found in large numbers among the beach stones; 



