THE WHELKS. TRUMPET SHELLS FAMILY BUCCINIDAE.
Shell usually thick, oblong to fusiform, with canal of moder ate length or short; periostracum thick; columella without folds; outer lip simple, often thickened; operculum horny.
A large and aggressive family of carnivorous habits, ranging from tropical to circumpolar seas.
Genus MELONGENA, Schum.
Shell pear-shaped, solid, dark-coloured, or banded; spire short, set with knobs and spines; aperture oval; canal short; columella and lip smooth; operculum solid, claw-like; nucleus apical. Comprises about a dozen species in warm seas of both hemispheres.
The Crown Melongena (M. corona, Gmel.) has its whorls adorned with a corona' of curved, flattened spines. The longi tudinal line of growth rise at base also in a secondary row of spines. Between the two is a flat space, banded with white on the bluish or chestnut ground. The surface is polished. In var. bispinosa the spiny crown is a double row of smaller cusps. In some forms the basal spines are missing. Sometimes there are no spines at all. Length, 21 to 5 inches.
Habitat.— Florida, West Indies.
The only mollusk that can kill one of these agile carnivors is the giant band shell, which overpowers it by main strength, and encloses it completely by the folds of its great foot. Any other rival discreetly yields whatever might be the subject of controversy, unless it is resigned to fight and be beaten.
The creature lives by preference in brackish water, feeding on clams and their kin, including the razor and the non-resistant oyster. Several individuals, often more than a dozen, may be seen in a circle around an oyster that has guardedly closed its shell. They patiently wait until the weary bivalve relaxes its 6i The Whelks. Trumpet Shells muscle, and lets the shell gape. Or it may be a large Fulgur perversa, which has to lift its operculum in order to breathe. The Melongenas are ready at the signal, and all thrust in their snouts, long and tough, like black shoestrings. The victim quick ly clamps them tight. But it must relax its hold frequently. Each yielding gives the snouts a chance to get a little further in. When the muscle is reached the rasping tongues soon disable it, and the victory is won. The "coon" oysters are Melongena's
favourite food, though the gizzard plates in the stomach of this mollusk enable it to assimilate the toughest substances.
The Melongena (M. patula, Brod. and Sby.), large and dark-coloured, with wide aperture, is sometimes remotely spiny on the shoulder. The shell is brown, banded with yellow or white. The lining is orange-pink. Length, 4 to 6 inches.
Habitat.— Panama to Mazatlan.
Habitat.— West Indies.
Genus HEMIFUSUS, Swains.
Shell thin, spindle-shaped, uncoloured or light yellow, spire shorter than the aperture, shoulders knobbed or spiny; canal open, wide, somewhat twisted. Six species.
The Colossal Hemifusus (H. colosseus, Lam.) is drawn out into slender spindle shape,, its keeled whorls bearing compressed low tubercles. The elongated aperture gradually merges into the wide, open canal. The exterior is a uniform horn-yellow; aperture rosy. Length, io to 14 inches.
Habitat.— Indian Ocean, Philippines.
Genus NEPTUNEA, Bolt. (CHRYSODOMUS, Swains.) Shell spindle-shaped, swollen in middle, colourless or dingy; whorls rounded, covered with horny epidermis; apex elevated, papillary; canal short; aperture oval; columella simple, smooth; operculum ovate, nucleus apical.
A circumpolar genus of eighteen species.
62 The Whelks. Trumpet Shells The Red Whelk (N. antiqua, Linn.) is used for codfish bait, and is a favourite molluscan food among the poor of Great Britain. The liver is the tidbit, described as "more fat and tender than lobster." The Dublin marketmen call this whelk "barnagh." At Billingsgate market in London it is the " almond " and " buckie." Antigua, the specific name, is chosen because this species is plentiful as a fossil in the Crag. Left-handed forms occur, fossil and living.