GALLERY.] 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
21 
with. And the harps ( Harpa ), so called because the ribs left on the 
surface by each succeeding addition to the growth of the shell have been 
compared to the strings of a harp. In some species these ribs are far 
apart, in others close ; the latter are called the double-stringed or ridged 
harp; they were formerly very rare. 
Table 9. The purple shell ( Purpura ), so called because, like 
many other of the animals of this kind, they emit a purple secretion 
which has been used in dyeing. The unicorn shell ( Monoceros) x 
so called because of the tooth-like horn on the front of the edge of the 
outer lip. The planaxis, which has been confounded with the peri¬ 
winkles. The limpet purple ( Concholepas ), which was formerly ar¬ 
ranged with the Patella, because of the large size of the mouth of its 
shells. It exactly resembles the left valve of the heart cockle, a 
bivalve shell, in shape, but it has the same small horn-like projection on 
the front of the outer lip. The mulberry shells ( [Ricinula ), which are 
usually covered with spines, and have been thought to resemble the fruit. 
Table 10. The Magilus , which, when the shell was first discovered, 
was thought by Guetard to be a stalactite, or mineral secretion; more 
lately Lamarck placed it wfith the w T orm shells, but the animal scarcely 
differs from the Purpurce; when the animal is young it has a thin 
shell of nearly the usual form, but of a white colour ; at a certain 
period of its growth, the animal 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. They exist in or o.n corals, and 
the extension of the shell is to allov^ the animal to keep its body level 
with the surface of the growing coral, that it may be enabled to procure 
its food. The Litiopce , which, continually floating about the ocean, are 
attached to the Gulph weed. The whelks ( Puccinum ). The needle 
shell ( Terebra). The Pallia, w 7 hich has a very large animal for the 
size of the shell. The Nassa. The Ringicula, which has been con¬ 
founded with the Auricula, but only differs from the Nassce in. 
having the large plaits on the pillar. 
Table 11. The Olives, Ancillaria, and butter shells, or Pburna y 
which are polished externally : as the camp olive ( Oliva porphyria ), 
from Panama; the Brazilian olive ( O. Prasiliensis ). 
Tables 11 —14. The genera allied to the Volutes. 
Tables 11, 12. The Melons, or Cymbium, which often grow to a 
large size, and are used for domestic purposes by the Chinese and other 
Asiatic nations : as the crowned melon, and some of the Volutes . 
The young of the melons are produced alive and of a large size; the 
top of the spine is of an irregular shape like a nipple. 
Tables 12, 13. The Volutes; as the very rare courtier or red clouded 
volute ( V. aulica ); the gambaroon ( Valuta Peckii ); the imperial vo¬ 
lute ( V. imperialis), from China ; long-spined volute ( V. ancilla) x 
from the Falkland Islands. 
Table 13. The rest of the volutes, and the Mitres, which 
differ from the former in having a longer spire; as the bishop mitre 
(M. episcopalis ); the abbot mitre (M. tiara) ; the papal crown 
( Mitra Papalis); the orange flag ( Mitra vex ilium) ; the cracked 
mitre {M. jissurata ). 
c 
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