
a Se ais No. 242 NEW YORK SHELL CLUB noms 
OF LOCAL MOLLUSKS 
THE OYSTER DRILL, UROSALPINX CINEREA (Say, 1822) 
Dorothy Raeihle 
is native to the Atlan. 
The common Oyster Drill, Urosalpinx cinerea, 1 
tic coast of Worth America ana ranges from Prince Edward Island, 
Nova Scotia, to northeast Florida. It also occurs from central (Cal- 
ifornia to the State of Washington, having been introduced to the 
west coast late in the 19th century. A few years later it was car- 
ried to England on consignments of oysters. 
In 1822 when Thomas Say described this muricid in the Journal of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences (Vol. 2, p. 236) it was placed in the 
family Purpuridae and called Fusus cinereus. A few years later it 
appears in the literature as "Buccinum™ and we find it listed as 
Such as late as the 1870 edition of INVERTEBRATA OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
Gould and Binney, page 370, with qualifying remarks that may have 
appeared in the 1841 edition: "Mr. Say mivreeaysottciy said eae were 
those of Purpura; but it is removed from both Fusus an urpura by 
its operculum, and will probably prove to belong to the genus Pollia 
of Gray. Mr. Say's specific name is preoccupied by another species 
of Buccinum." It was the distinguished William Stimpson who, in 
1865, erected the genus Urosalpinx with Urosalpinx cinerea the type 
of the genus, giving us the familiar name which still stands. The 
names are descriptive in character; they are fashioned from the 
Greek oura = tail + salpinx = trumpet, and cinerea = ashy in color. 
Urosalpinx cinerea has a moderately attractive shell with rounded 
axial ribs and a range in color from all white through ashy grey to 
yellow, and light orange to rusty brown. It grows to at least 37m 
and is nice to have in a collection. And that is where the oyster- 
men would have it, for it is predatory on other species and finds 
the oysterbeds an easy source of food. The conflict is that when 
the oysterman Spreads his young oysters over an open bed he wants 
the native populace of Starfish, Urosalpinx, Busycon, Polinices, 
crabs, flatworms, fish, etc. to stay away Prom the tocdie tee taid 
bie ncaa ang Saueens man's most ingenious protective devices -- 
ave included fencing, trapping, e i ison- 
ing -- have had only nanhiat Pyiccsc eaPine arabic | has cored 24 
Naturalists have known for more than 2 000 ye i ar- 
nivorous mollusks bore holes through the Shei of ele he ther 
insert the proboscis to feed on the flesh within, but the actual 
mechanics were not understood until recently: Melbourne Romaine 
Carriker became interested in Urosalpinx while he was a graduate 
Pape one of his early papers was "On the structure and function 
ieaane pies 8 in Urosalpinx" (1943. Jour. Morphol. 73). Fifteen 
sitite ee papers later he reported on the "Mechanical-chemical 
oan ha: ee by Yrosalpinx and Eupleura" (1958. Bull. Assoc. 
gland which eel ate had discovered the function Bee orld 
2 : : Cai used as an assist in the drill- 
sa htgene hole: The snail alternates the application of the chem- 
ee eS See of shell under attack (apparently "softening" it), 
iad Pe 10 p a masping with the radula. Previously similar glands, 
eee boy ane ree ae pcvent to be suctorial, assisting 
known as the "accessory tere eee oo 

