54 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
[EAST. ZOOL. 
The family of Buccinums ( Buccinim:, Cases 8-11) have the syphon 
of the mantle recurved, and the shell has a more or less elongated canal 
in the front of the mouth for its protection, which is bent upwards to¬ 
wards the left side. Some of these animals form convex rounded va¬ 
rices at distant places on the whorls, like the Tritons , and generally have 
the lips veined or granular, as Cassis, Cassidaria, Dolium, and Harpa. 
The latter has a very large foot, nicked on each side in front, and 
pointed behind ; its hinder part separates spontaneously when the ani¬ 
mal is irritated. Others, like the Murices , have close irregular varices, 
which are sometimes produced into spines or branched processes, as 
Ricinula, Purpura, and Magilus. The latter is very peculiar; for the 
animal, when young, has a shell of the usual form, but, at a certain period 
of its growth, deposits in the cavity such a quantity of calcareous matter, 
as to produce the shell, in its subsequent growth, into a more or less 
elongated straight process, leaving only a small cavity for the body of the 
animal at its end. These shells have been taken for stalactites or 
mineral concretions, especially when destitute of the cavity. They live 
in or on corals, and the extension of the shell is to allow the animal to 
keep its body on a level with the surface of the growing coral. It was 
placed by Lamarck with the Annelides or worm shells, and by Guetard 
as a mineral. The Ringiculce have been confounded with the Auriculae ; 
they are truly marine ; the Planaxes were placed by Lamarck with the 
Turbines, but they only differ from Purpura in having a smaller mouth. 
The Quoyice are Planaxes with a notch in the inner lip. Concholepas 
was considered by the older conchologists as a Patella , but it only 
differs from Purpura in having a larger mouth and very small spire. 
The Litiopce are small animals found on the Gulph weed; they have 
been placed with the Turbines, but they chiefly differ from Planaxes in 
having a thin transparent shell. In others the animal does not form 
any, or only very rudimentary, varices, as Buccinum, Terebra, Nyssa, 
and ColumbeUa, and the shells are covered with a horny periostraca. 
These genera are severally distinguished from each other by the form 
of the mouth ; some of them, which have the lips much dilated over 
the base of the last whorl, have a very large foot, which is believed to 
secrete the shelly matter of which the lips are formed. The Nassce 
have a moderate sized foot, which is nicked behind, and the operculum 
is toothed on its edge. The Bullice resemble them in most characters, 
but they have a very large broad foot, and the hinder part of the inner 
lip of the shell, being extended beyond the mouth, forms a raised 
enamel band round the suture of the whorls, as is also the case with 
the Ancillarice and some Volutes; Phos and Cyllene have a small sinus 
in the front of the outer lip, like the Strombs. The olives {Oliva, 
Ancilla and Eburna) have the shell covered with a polished coat, 
and sunk into the large expanded foot, so that only a small part of 
its back can be seen when the animal is walking; the front of the foot 
is separated from the hinder part, as in the volutes, by a deep nick 
on each side, and the front of the pillar of the shell is obscurely plaited. 
The true olives ( Oliva j6nd ~CyUeTee)\ have a canal round the suture of the 
whorls, formed to incite a filifornr process arising from the hinder end 
of their small inclosed mantle, which is wanting in the Ancillarice. 
Most of these genera are provided with a distinct operculum, except 
Harpa, the larger species of Olives, and the Ancillarice. 
