68 



POPULAR CONCHOLOGY. 



canal short or long; varices placed alternately on each 

 whorl, often considerably distant from each 

 other, and never longitudinally nnited as in 

 Murex; right lip often wrinkled, and the left 

 occasionally thickened ; operculum horny ; 

 the epidermis often thick, hairy, or tufted 

 with bristles. Animal, differing from the 

 Murex, being almost always brightly and 

 variously coloured; the foot smaller, but 

 thicker; the head large, projecting between 

 the tentacula; these are long and conical, 

 bearing the eyes externally, exactly in the Tritomumvarkgatus. 

 middle ; a tolerably long cylindrical pro- 

 boscis can be projected from the mouth. — 102 species*; 

 also fossil. 



The shells of this genus are found in the Mediterranean, 

 Indian, and South Seas. In many of the countries near 

 which they abound, they are used as instruments of music, 

 and called Conch shells. By breaking off the apex, or 

 boring a hole, and blowing through the aperture, notes can 

 be produced ; and they are employed in this manner by 

 some nations as military horns. In the early ages of 

 Greece, it was customary for the common crier to intro- 

 duce himself to the notice of the people by lustily blowing 

 through a shell, and the T. variegatus was the one generally 

 selected.! This shell is often met with fifteen inches, or 

 even two feet in length ; it is found on the Asiatic shores, 

 and is frequently beautifully coloured. T. tritonis is used 

 by the Australian natives for the same purpose. 



Hanella. Lam. — Shell oval, rather flattened; canal 

 short; two rows of varices situated at the distance of half 



* Reeve's Econica. 



f Reeve. 



