22 
CALIFORNIA SEA SHELLS. 
plates which overlap like shingles. The surface 
is rough and deeply sculptured. The aperture 
is oval, with thin, projecting lips, which make, 
by a fold, a prominent horn near its base. The 
siphon al canal is long, closed, and curved at the 
tip: The outside of the shell is of a dull white, and 
the inside is lined with a beautiful white enamel. 
The operculum looks like a thin chip of rose 
wood. 
Cerostoma Nuttallii , Conr. Fig. 1, Pb IV, Nut- 
tail’s flora mouth, resembles the last but is small- 
the varices are not so broad and thin, while the 
spaces between them are tubercled and marked 
with but little spiral sculptuing. It was named 
for the eminent naturlist, JSTuttall. 
The gen us N asset, which we will next con- 
sider, has several representatives on the coast of 
California. The name means u a basket for 
taking fish,” and refers to the netted surface of 
most of the species. Among our most common 
species we mention Nassa fossata , Gld., Basket 
Shell, shown in Fig. 2, PI. IV. It is the largest 
of our species. Spire, conical, consisting of five 
or six whorls ; surface, sculptured by spiral find 
transverse grooves. The inside of the outer lip 
is also grooved, and the aperture ends in a short, 
strongly reflexed canal, through which the 
animal sends up its nose-pipe, when it is search- 
ing the sand for bivalves. Near the base of the 
body whorl is a deep spiral ditch, or “ fossa, 
which gives a name to the species. Color, yellow- 
ish white, deepening in the mouth to a brown- 
ish orange. Length, from one to two inches. 
Nassa jperprnguis, lids., Fig. 3, PL IV, resem- 
