GASTEROPODA. 



117 



operculum thin and oval. Animal, described in the 

 family. — 9 species*; also fossil. 



The first species known of this interesting shell was 

 named Trochus agglutinans, from the peculiar property 

 mentioned above. For some time the genus has been 

 known under the name of Phorus of Montfort ; but 

 Philippi has revived an older name, and, according to 

 the right of priority, by that it should now be known. 

 X. onustus is an inhabitant of the West Indies, and is 

 remarkable for the singular habit of accumulating, during 

 the formation of its shell, different substances, which ad- 

 here to it. It is found covered with fragments of all kinds, 

 and on account of this curious propensity it has been 

 named the Carrier : it has been supposed that this is done 

 for the purpose of strengthening the shell, which is very 

 thin and brittle; and that the substances collected are 

 made to adhere by bringing the part of the shell into 

 contact with them whilst the shelly matter is still in an 

 unhardened state. Mr. Reeve illustrates a very curious 

 specimen of this species in his interesting monograph on 

 this genus. It is covered so thickly with a number of 

 shells of the genus Cerithium, that the original can 

 scarcely be seen on the upper side ; looking more like a 

 mass of these shells lying carelessly in all directions, in- 

 termixed with a few stones and bivalves. X. exntus, on 

 the contrary, exhibits very few indications of having had 

 any foreign substances adhering to it. X. corrugatus is 

 often much loaded with small pieces of shell at the edges 

 of the whorls. X. Solaris is a very beautiful shell ; when 

 young it bears a few stones on the whorls, but afterwards 

 is ornamented with a row of long, hollow, spouted tubes, 

 which give it a very remarkable appearance, f 



* Reeve's Iconica. 



I 3 



t Ibid. 



