by Ovid in his description of the retiring of the 
waters of the deluge on the sound of the trumpet of 
Triton. 
But when th’ all-powerful ruler of the sky 
Saw earth in one wide waste of waters lie, 
While late of all its peopled realms contain’d 
One only pair of human race remain d, 
Innocuous both, resign’d to Hcav’n’s decree, 
Celestial pity touch’d the Deity. 
At his command, by winds resistless driv’n, 
Dispersing clouds to earth unveil the heav’n : 
And Neptune bids blue Triton sound amain 
His powerful trump, and bind the waves again. 
The sea-born herald at the call appears; 
High o’er the surge his scaly shoulders rears; 
And while the foaming billows round him swell 
Grasps with his bearded lip the spiral shell. 
With such a blast the sounding conch he blew 
O’er all the globe at once the thrilling signal flew. 
Back to their ancient bounds, from pole to pole 
Th’ alarmed seas in refluent circles roll: 
The hills emerge; the woods their branches shew; 
And earth restor’d peeps slowly from below. 
This shell is generally of a whitish or yellowish 
colour, richly variegated with deep and pale ferru¬ 
ginous, brown, and blackish, transverse undula¬ 
tions ; varying, like all other shells in the intensity 
and beauty of its colours, according to age or other 
circumstances. 
