84 



POPULAR CONCHOLOGY. 



row of small spines on the upper edge of the whorls ; of 

 which the author has a specimen in her 

 cabinet, so beautifully preserved, that the 

 lines of colour are perfectly distinct. 



The aperture of those shells which form 

 the genus Melo of Broderip, as here repre- 

 sented, is much larger than that of many 

 of the other species, and the outer lip and 

 the whole shell are thinner. They are found 

 in the Asiatic seas, &c. Sowerby illustrates 

 10 species. 



Those which constitute the genus Cymba 

 of Broderip are found in Africa, and one or 

 two in Australia ; they are distinguished 

 by the rude, ill-shaped spire, and the cu- 

 rious ledge which separates the outer lip from 

 the body whorl, as seen in the cut. The 

 animals burrow in the sand at low water. 

 Sowerby describes 9 species. 



Mitra. Lam. — Shell turreted, rather Cymba. 

 fusiform ; spire pointed, long or short ; 

 inner lip plaited, the lowest the smallest, 

 outer lip sometimes toothed or thickened : 

 no operculum. Animal, foot small, trun- 

 cated in front ; head very small, nearly 

 the whole formed into two blunt, short, 

 but connected tentacula, the eves placed 

 about the middle ; the proboscis some- 

 times longer than the shell, club-shaped 

 at the end; the breathing tube generally 

 tolerably long. — 334 species* : also fossil 



These shells are much smaller and more slender than 



Mitra .«. nii/nsciata and 



* Reeve's [conica. 



