36 
BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
The “waves” or rounded longitudinal ridges on the whorls also, twelve 
or thirteen on each, are hut rarely or never seen in P. Japillus. Another 
good distinguishing character, which seems to remain constant for all 
sizes and ages, consists in the shape of the lowest part of the free edge 
of the opening, the apex being considered the upper end of the shell. 
In P. lapillus this is more or less angular, and never lower than the 
lowest point of the columella or central pillar around which the whorls 
are wound. In B. undatum , on the other hand, it is always evenly 
Tounded, and always a little lower than the extremity of the columella. 
The epidermis is generally yellowish, though variable, and the interior 
of the shell is frequently of a beautiful golden-yellow. It has been 
known to grow to a length of more than six inches. 
The Whelk is not at all particular as to the kind of shore or 
bottom it inhabits, or as to its depth. Near low-water mark on our 
coast, it may be found in mud, sand, gravel, or rocks, feeding chiefly 
on animal food. At Oak Bay, Charlotte County, they occur in perfec- 
tion, and their habits may there readily be studied. They are frequently 
seen at that place feeding upon dead fish, and it is chiefly through their 
fondness for such food that they are captured in England and Ireland. 
There round wicker baskets, a foot in diameter, with a hole in the top, 
baited with cod or other fish, arranged to allow them to get in but not 
out, are lowered in from five to fifty fathoms of water, and drawn up 
and emptied at intervals, much as our lobster-traps are. Other methods 
are, to lower a baited hoop-net, two feet in diameter, or a long line on 
which small crabs are strung. The Whelks cling to either of these and 
are readily captured. They must be kept alive for bait. It appears 
that its love for cod is fully reciprocated, for they are eaten in great 
numbers by that and other fish, for which it is consequently a very 
valuable and attractive bait. We do not know that it has been observed 
perforating other shells as Natica and Purpura do. It can live in quite 
brackish water. 
Its eggs are laid in lens-shaped capsules, one-fourth of an inch in 
diameter, each containing many eggs. Great numbers of capsules are 
deposited together, forming large irregular rounded masses, whicb are 
attached to stones or seaweed below low-water mark. The young have 
the shell well developed before they leave the capsules. 
Economics. This is a Food-mollusc of very great im- 
portance in Great Britain. In Vol. VI. of the Fisheries 
Exhibition Literature we are told, “ The edible Whelk is 
considered a very nutritious and strengthening food, and is 
always free from poisonous matter. I have heard fishermen 
say that a dish of Whelks does them as much good as a 
beefsteak.” It may be bought in all the coast towns of Eng- 
