lANTHINA. 



Lam, — Syst. des Anira. sans vertebr. 



TESTA subglobosa, tenuis^ fragilis. Apertura 

 Integra^ basi angulata, parte exteriore rotundato- 

 angiilata. Columella elong'ata^ recta^ reflexa. 

 Labium exterius in speciem sinus emarginatum 

 vel angulatum. 



A VERY singular animal, which has for a considerable 

 length of time attracted the particular attention of Natu- 

 ralists ; the singularity of its form, the pretty colouring of 

 its shell, the abundant and deeply purple-coloured liquor 

 which it throws out, and the extraordinary vesicular 

 organ by means of which it remains suspended on the 

 surface of the sea, have all contributed to its cele- 

 brity. This latter is, however, according to the opinion of 

 the great Cuvier, the only organ peculiar to this animal ; 

 it consists in a mass composed of a number of transparent 

 vesicles, attached to the posterior part of the foot, a little 

 below the point to which the operculum is fixed in other 

 genera. Cuvier thinks also that this organ bears some 

 analogy to the opercula of other univalves, and that it may 

 be a vestige of an operculum which has undergone such 

 modifications in its form and structure, as we frequently 

 observe in the productions of nature : in other respects he 

 thinks the animal approaches in its structure to that of the 

 Buccinum and Murex ; having a proboscis or trunk in the 

 same manner as they have, but larger, more elongated and 

 cylindrical. Cuvier says, moreover, that its foot is short 

 and broad ; that its structure is the same as that of the 

 other Gasteropoda ; that it has on each side, a little above 

 its edge, a small longitudinal membrane, which, undoubtedly 

 serves the purposes of a fin. The animal^ according to 



