MUREX. ROCK-SHELL. 
87 
lar polished, with a keel-like ridge along the canal, and 
rugged on the outside : length six inches ; breadth, inclu¬ 
ding the protuberances, four inches. 
We had frequently heard it remarked, that the fisher¬ 
men of the northern coasts of Ireland occasionally saw, 
what they called the great rock-shell, in calm weather, and 
deep in the water. Our attention was naturally awakened 
by this relation, not however being able to ascertain what 
degree of credit was due to it. At length we were favoured 
with a pair of these magnificent shells, which were thrown 
up on the sands at WarrenVpoint, after a severe thunder 
storm. They were at the time covered with the Lepas Ba- 
lamis, Serpula triquetra, and Cellepora spinosa; and in 
one of them were found the putrid remains of the animal 
inhabitant. 
It may also be observed, that no foreign vessels touch on 
that coast, that no collector of shells lives in that part of 
Ireland, and that the person who found them and present¬ 
ed them to us knew not one shell from another, and won¬ 
dered at our exact examination into their history, v. m. 
» 2. Mures Erinaceus, Hedge-hog Rock-shell . 
Pennant , pi. 79. f. 1 — Da Costa, pi. 8. f. 7— Donovan , 
pi. 35 —Dorset Cat. pi. 14. f. 7* 
Shell strong, rough, angular, brown or whitish: spires 
seven or eight, abruptly sloping at the junctions, ending in 
a fine point; the primary volution with numerous raised 
transverse lines; the rest with generally two strong raised 
warty circular ribs ; all of them mostly clothed with small 
concave arched scales placed in an imbricate manner, and 
furnished with about seven strong longitudinal ribs : aper¬ 
ture oval, ending in a short closed tubular canal which is 
reflected; outer-lip thick, toothed'within; pillar-lip smooth, 
glossy-white : length nearly two inches; breadth about one. 
Old shells have the outer-lip very thick, flat and angu¬ 
lar: young shells have the canal open, with the outer-lip 
thin and striate transversely on the inside, often marked 
rith transverse brown bands : they may be distinguished 
from the young of Buccinura Lapillus, by the longitudinal 
ribs, and the abrupt sloping of the volutions to the line of 
A junction* 
