A treatise on malacology; or, Shells and shell fish . aberrant groupsalways form a circle of their own. (220.) Our fifth and last family is that of theJVaticidcB, or nerits, consisting of those genera whose in-habitants are not furnished, like the Turbidce,y,viih a pro-boscis-formed mouth, and eyes placed upon their antennae,but whose mouth is like that of the generality of shell-fish belonging to this tribe, and whose eyes, where theyexist, are at the base of their tentacula. The animal ofone of the typical Naticidce has been beautifully drawnby Guilding, and is here copied (Jig. 43.) ; it is
A treatise on malacology; or, Shells and shell fish . aberrant groupsalways form a circle of their own. (220.) Our fifth and last family is that of theJVaticidcB, or nerits, consisting of those genera whose in-habitants are not furnished, like the Turbidce,y,viih a pro-boscis-formed mouth, and eyes placed upon their antennae,but whose mouth is like that of the generality of shell-fish belonging to this tribe, and whose eyes, where theyexist, are at the base of their tentacula. The animal ofone of the typical Naticidce has been beautifully drawnby Guilding, and is here copied (Jig. 43.) ; it is a mostextraordinary looking creature. The whole family differsfrom the Trochidce, moreover, in having no lateral fila-ments; and in the form of their lips, eyes, &c.; and fromthe HaliotidcB, in all that respects the animals, as well astheir shell. For reasons, however, which we have justbefore this detailed, this is the only family whose analysiswe find it impossible to complete ; this originates in the CHAP. VIII. THE , OR NERITS. 239. incertitude regarding the many earlike shells belongingor related to the genus Sigaretus of authors^ but of whoseanimals we know little or nothing. The reader will,therefore, understand that the only groups we considerto be natural in the following arrangement, are those ofthe NeritincB and the NaticincE; the three others beingmerely conjectural. If the animal of Cuviers Sigaretusis like that of De Blainvilles, we should thus refer it tothe group which contains Chelinotus ; but we stronglysuspect that the shells of the Sigareti figured by Sowerby*all belong to, and form the typical group of, the presentfamily : Lamarcks Natica constitutes the second ; andthe Linnaean nerits the third : the other two may pro-bably be represented by the CryptostonifV of Blainvilleand Quoy ; and the fifth, which forms the passage to theTurhidcB, either by Lacuna, Turton, or more probablyby such long-spired types as Truncatella, Lowe. Of allthese, as shell
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectmollusks, bookyear184
