This mollusk is large, the average shell three or four inches long and two inches wide. Extreme specimens are eight inches long. The shell is solid, dull-lustred, yellowish or reddish, with faint spiral ridges. The Shetland islanders convert them into "elegant lamps," hanging them in a horizontal position with the lighted end of the wick protruding from the canal. The eggs are laid in pouch-like capsules, attached to each other in close, over lapping clusters. The spawning time is late winter.
Habitat. Northern Europe.
The Neptunea (N. decemcostata, Say) is the large and striking whelk of the Maine coast, with ten winding keels of graduated sizes decorating its swollen body whorl. On the upper whorls but two keels occur. The mouth is wide open ; the lining is pure white. The shell's exterior is dull and dirty, white or horn-coloured. The body is frequently pure white or flecked with black. The animal has the carnivorous activities of the whelk, Buccinum, with which it occurs, below low water mark. Length, 2 to 4 inches.
Habitat. New England and Nova Scotia.
The Ridged Neptunea (N. lirata, Mart.) is a large Alaskan species, with light brown shell wound with nine to fifteen ribs, three seen on the spire. Sometimes the shell is smooth, by the suppression of these ribs. Length, 3 to 6 inches.
Habitat. Northwest coast of North America.
Shell thin, pear-shaped, or spindle-shaped, with smooth, rounded whorls; lips simple; canal and spire produced; opercu lum ovate, with apical nucleus. Thirty-seven species.
Habitat. Circumpolar.
63 The Whelks. Shells Stimpson's Sipho (S. Stimpsoni, Morch.) is found in water from' twenty to one hundred feet deep, off the coast of New England. It is clad in a thick, horny epidermis, which is sometimes velvety. There are seven or eight whorls, forming a very graceful shell, destitute of decoration, except for the crossing faint striae and wavy growth lines. The canal is recurved. Length, 3 to 5 inches.
Habitat. Arctic Seas to Cape Hatteras.
S. pigmmus, Gld., scarcely over inch long, is found with the young of the large species. Its many whorls are invested with a velvety, corrugated, drab epidermis.
Habitat. New England coast to Cape Fear.
Genus SIPHONALIA, A. Ads.
Shell thin, ovate, spindle-shaped; whorls bearing nodose longitudinal folds and spiral ribs; colouring variegated; canal short, twisted.
A genus of sub-tropical distribution, centring in Japan, but extending to America and Australia.
Kellett's Spindle Shell (S. Kellettii, Forbes) has colonised the California coast from its home in Japanese waters. Its brown ish white shell is handsomely knobbed. It is found in the shal lows at low tide. Length, 3 to 5 inches.