27 
CONCHOLOGY. 
ferre (trial' and fluvia.nl fualls; and the delphinus, a fea 
kind, he has placed among the fea fnails. Gualtieri, like 
Lifter, places many among the land and river fhells ; and 
the fea fpecies he ranks as cpchlese depreffan Argenville 
and Davila place them with the cochleae ore depreffo, or 
trochi; and the other authors rank them indifcriminately 
with fnails, by the names of poft-horns and lamps. Dr. 
Gmelin has arranged them in a diftinft genus. There' 
ahe many curious fpecies of them, feme of which are ex¬ 
hibited in the annexed engraving. 
The third genus of fnails has a very fhort, or but little 
produced, turban ; and that is- their only character, as 
they agree in the mouth and other particulars with the 
reft. Indeed this genus was formed by Da Cofta more 
for regularity and clearnefs in the method, than on ac¬ 
count of its having any elfential diftinft character; and 
in mod authors they are indifcriminately intermixed with 
all the fnail kind. This genus is very fertile in fpecies, 
as it comprehends the land fnails, and many others. 
TURBO, the WREATHED or TURBINATED 
SHELLS. 
The fnails with a produced or lengthened clavicle or 
turban, called turbo, form the fourth genus. Thefe have 
generally a perfect round mouth ; the columella, Or inner 
lip, is not much faced outwards, and the body-fpire is 
very rotund, fo that the turban is not infenfibly, but fud- 
denly or difproportionately, produced from it, as in the 
buccina. The arrangement and names this genus bears 
with fyftematilts are as follow : Lifter places them'as a fec- 
tion of the fnails ; Gualtieri calls them cochleae marinae 
terreltriformes ; Rumphius, Argenville, Davila, and Meuf- 
chen, cochleae lunares, or round-mouthed inails ; and Lin¬ 
naeus places them under a diftindt genus of fhell-filb he 
calls turbo. 
There is a vaft number of fpecies of this genus, and 
moftly very fine (hells. Among them is the gold mouth, 
the filver mouth, the ferpents (kin, the Mjdas ear, &c. 
And that valuable {hell the wentletrap is ranked by Lin¬ 
naeus in this genus, under the name turbo fcalar is. It is 
an anecdote df the wentletrap worthy to be tranfmitted, 
as it fliews the value of particular fpecies at times, that, 
in 17.53,, at the fale of commodore Lille’s fhells at Lang¬ 
ford’s, four wentletraps were fold for feventy-fiye pounds 
twelve (hillings.' Elegant fpecimens of the turbinated fhells 
are given in the copper-plates, from. Seba and Knorr. 
STROMBIFORMES, or NEEDLEFORM SHELLS. 
The fifth and laft genus of fnails is called cochlea ftrom- 
biformes. They are very long and (lender, tapering to a 
(harp point, refembling the ftrombi, or needles ; whence 
they are named Jlrombifonnes. Thefe fnails have a perfedt 
round mouth, well defined or bordered, by which parti¬ 
cular alone they are immediately diltinguifhed from the 
ftrombi, or needles, which is a fpecies (till more (lender 
and delicate; but the mouths of the ftrombi are long, 
and have a very thick columella befide them, eredf, and 
fomewhat twirled ; and many kinds are prolonged into a 
wry gutter, turning backwards, like the mouth of a foal, 
or other flat-fifli. Tlfe firft, or body-whirl or fpire, is 
not more than proportionably fwelled, fo that the whole 
fhell gradually tapers to a (harp point. Lifter, who is 
critically methodical, has arranged this genus as fnails 
with a very long and (lender turban. Rumphius inter¬ 
mixes them, as does Argenville, Gualtieri, and Davila, 
■who call them turbo or (trombus. Da Cofta places the 
ftrombi amongft the buccina. Meufchen intermixes them ; 
and Linnseus ranks them in his genus turbo. Seba di¬ 
vides them into two beautiful clafles, as (hewn in the an¬ 
nexed engraving. 
Afoflil kind is found in the fand-pits at Woolwich, in 
Kent, in immenfe quantities, which feems to be a fpecies 
yet undilcovered in a living or recent ftate from the fea. 
Da Colta calls it cochleae ftrombiformis, clavata, from 
one inch and a half to two inches long, wrinkled, or ltri- 
ated the whole run of the fpires; and each fpire is alfb 
circularly fet with a row of depreflions, like the marks of 
heads of nails. 
BUCCINUM, the WHELK. 
The fifteenth family of univalves is the buccina or 
whelks. It is chiefly this family'that has created fo jnany 
differences among writers on conchology. The immenfe 
quantity of fpecies it contains, and the many fuboruinate 
c ha rafters of them ; which fubordinate characters molt 
authors having attended to, and made them effential in¬ 
stead of fubordinate, has produced all the perplexity and 
eonfufion we meet with relative to this family. The er¬ 
ror of authors in letting afide the figure of the mouth., 
and framing their genera from fubordinate characters, is 
not more vitible in any family of the teftaceous animals, 
than in this. For the fhells called buccina by the feveral 
conchologifts, inftead of being fimilar mouthed (hells, is a 
jumble of feveral families placed confufediy together : and 
Lifter, though erroneous in fome particulars, by ranging 
many kinds not truiy buccina, leems, with Davila, to be 
the only authors who have arranged this family with any 
propriety or order. 
Argenville, after criticiflng Lifter, makes the eflentinl 
character of buccina to be a broad and very lengthened 
mouth; but he nowhere diftinguifhes the feveral genera, 
and therefore it becomes a feene of eonfufion. Davila, 
who follows and corrects his method, defines them to have 
a large oblong- aperture, and divides them into four ge¬ 
nera; but the firft genus which he calls whole-mouthed, 
without a tail or gutter, are not buccina, for their month 
is perfectly circumfcribed or bordered: Inch are the Mi¬ 
das’s ear, and others; for thefe fhells, though in fhape 
and appearance refembling buccina, yet their mouth be¬ 
ing perfectly circumfcribed or bordered, and devoid of 
gutter or beak, ftrongly- feparates them. Linnaeus defines 
the buccina extremely well by an oval aperture ending in 
a gutter; but his (elections of them are rather perplexed. 
The other authors, as Baionanni, Rumphius, &c. give no 
character for buccina, but range (hells as fuch,. only as 
their fancy furmifes. 
Da Cofta defines all buccina to be fhells whofe mouths 
are an oblong or very lengthened oval, the upper part 
whereof is produced or lengthened into a gutter or flight 
beak: all other characters are fubordinate, and ferve 
only to conltitute the different tribes of the fame family. 
He therefore divides them into fix genera, viz. 1. Buccina 
c.analiculata, or guttered whelks; fo called, becaufe the 
top of the mouth prolongs itfelf into a .nearly ftrait cy- 
lindric gutter, and the inner or columella lip is always- 
extremely frnooth. The fpecies of this genus are very- 
numerous. The varieties of work and fhape, which are 
only fubordinate characters, are amazing. The rank 
thefe guttered buccina hold in fyfte.matical authors, is as 
follows : Lifter’s feCtion xiv. of his fourth book, is, for the 
greater part, of this genus. Gualtieri places thofe with 
fhort clavicles or turbans, among what he calls cochleae 
pyriformes ; and thofe with produced turbans' he calls 
buccina. Davila makes them the third genus of buccina; 
which he calls buccina whofe mouths terminate in.a ihort 
tail. Linnreus intermixes them among his feveral feClions ; 
and the other authors place them indifferently, and only 
as buccina. 
2. Buccina recurvirojlra five plagiofoma, buccina -oris 
apice quafi abfcif 'o, rofro vel canalicido parsvulo recurvo , £? 
extrorfum porredo ;< Wry-mouthed whelks. The top of 
the mouth of this genus is not prolonged or extended for¬ 
ward, but has a notch or crooked gutter, which turns 
outwards on the back, and exaCtly refembles the mouth 
of a foie or other flat lift). The fpecies of this genus are 
very numerous ; and the varieties of their fliapes and 
works are vaftly diverfified. Lifter and Davila have made 
a feparate ger.us of thefe whelks, folely on account of this 
character. Lifter calls them whelks whofe tops are fhort, 
or do not extend beyond the mouth. Davila makes them 
