MONOCEROS 



Lam. — Encycl. Methodique, tab. 396. 



TESTA ovata, spira brevi, anfractu ultimo majore; 

 apertura expansa^ in canalem brevem producta ; 

 labio externo^ ad inferiorem partem^ processu 

 elongate^ acuto armato. Columella planulata^ 

 lajvis. 



Arranged by Bruguiere among the Buccina, but sepa- 

 rated from them by Lamarck, who at first included the 

 shells of the present Genus with the Purpuras (in his Sys- 

 teme des Anim : sans vert.) to which they are certainly 

 very nearly related ; but who has since instituted the Genus 

 Monoceros, to include the shells commonly called " Uni- 

 corn Scoops'* in English, and " Licornes" by the French. 



The shells, which Lamarck has thus united together 

 under the Generic name Monoceros, are of an ovate ge- 

 neral form : the spire is short, sometimes very short, so as 

 not to be produced beyond the upper part of the last 

 whorl, which is much larger than the preceding whorls : 

 the aperture is consequently expanded, and at its base 

 there is a short canal. Just within the outer lip in some 

 species, there is a row of small teeth; but the principal 

 peculiarity, and the character which distinguishes this 

 Genus from Purpura, is an elongated acute process, or 

 tooth near the lower part of the outer lip and close to the 

 canal ; from which it obtains its name. As in many of the 

 Purpuras and as in some of the shells, placed in Turbi- 

 nellus by Lamarck, the lower part of the last whorl on the 

 side of the aperture is, in most of the species, abraded or 

 worn away to make a smooth place upon which the inner 

 or Columellar lip spreads itself. The Columella is smooth 

 and flattened. 



In its general characters, as well as in the asperities 

 on the outer surface, the shells of this Genus are very 



