66 Beautiful Shells. 



the Undulated Volute (V. undulata), the Latin for a 

 little wave is undula, and these marks are like the 

 lines caused by the flowing of the waves on a sandy- 

 shore: this shell is found chiefly in the South 

 Pacific ; the animal which inhabits it is prettily 

 marked with zebra-like stripes. Fig. 4 is called the 

 Pacific Volute (V. Pacificus), the shape, it will be 

 seen, is somewhat different, being more angular, 

 and it is without the waved lines. Pig. 5, the Bat 

 Volute (V. vespertilio) , is more decidedly knobbed 

 or spiked, approaching nearly to the shape of some 

 of the coronated ones. This species is found in 

 the Indian seas ; the specific name is the Latin for 

 a bat. 



Mitbes. These are usually considered as a genus, 

 or branch of the Volute family ; the scientific name 

 is mitra. The form is generally long, slender, and 

 pointed, something like the bishop's mitre, hence 

 the common name of the genus. In the Episcopal 

 Mitre (M. episcopalis), Plate VI., Fig. 1, we see 

 this form in its greatest perfection ; this is a hand- 

 some shell, found in the Indian seas and on the 

 coasts of the South Sea Islands. The mollusk is 

 remarkable for a long proboscis, double the length 

 of the shell, the extremity of which swells into a 

 club form, and has an oval orifice or opening : the 



