BUCCINUM, the name of a genus of 3lolluscous animals, to which the common Whelk belongs. Forbes and Hanley place it amongst the Prosobranchiate Gasteropoda, and the tribe Muricidcr. The fol lowing are its characters :—Shell ovate, more or leas ventricose, turreted ; surface smooth or spirally striated, spirally grooved or lon gitudinally plicated, invested with an epidermis. Aperture ovate, emarginate, or very shortly canaliculated below ; canal wide, truncated dorsally, more or less tumid ; coluniella smooth, inner lip expanded, outer lip usually thin and smooth within. Operculum corneous oblong, its nucleus lateral. Animal bulky ; head broad, depressed, bearing two somewhat flattened teutacula set well apart, their tips subulate, their bases thickened for half their lengths by the connate sustentacula, which bear the rather small eyes ; proboscis ample ; tongue armed with teeth, ranged three in a row, the axil one broad and quadrate, with many erenations, the laterals scythe-shaped, with dentieulated bases. Male organ very large, sickle-shaped.
Messrs. Forbes aad Hanley say—" We retain the old name Buccinum originally applied to whelks in general, for that group of shells of which the common Buccinum undatum may be regarded as the type.
They constitute a very natural assemblage, though one of no great extent, and are mainly inhabitants of the boreal and arctic regions of both northern and southern hemispheres. The relation of the distri bution of this form of mollusk to climate is strikingly shown when we compare such a shell as the Buccinum cyaneum of Greenland with the Buccinum antarcticum of the Falkland Islands, one of the most striking instances that can be cited of the representation of species by similar species in regions far apart, but subject to similar physical conditions.
"Several zoologists have of late united the Buccinum undatum and its allies with Funs antiquus and similar shells, under the old generic name of Tritonium, originally proposed by Otho Frederic Miller.
Independent of the very serious objection which applied to this name on account of its having become obsolete, whilst the too similar word Triton and even Tritonium itself were used in the meantime for a very different assemblage of Muricider, and one presenting good natural marks of distinction, we are inclined still, provisionally at least, to keep up the distinction between the Futi of the north and Buccinum, since shell, animal, and operculum present marks of distinction, which, though in the end they may prove to be of no more than sectional value, yet in the present state of our knowledge deserve to be con sidered of importance. Unfortunately, the name Buccinum has even of very late years been applied to. such a heterogeneous assemblage of shells, that it is difficult to disentangle those to which we restrict the names from a number of very different forma having no true generic affinity with them.
"These Mollusks appear to have commenced their existence during the later Tertiary epoch. At present they have the power of enduring very variable conditions of depth and locality, though the geographic range of the group is limited, however widely may extend the areas of some species."
B. undatuin (Linnmus), the common Whelk. It has more or less coarse spiral atrim, and usually with broad longitudinal folds; the beak short. Forbes and Hanley, amongst other synonyms for this very widely distributed species, give the following :—B. striatum, Pennant; B. canaliculatum rulgare, Da Costa; B. Borinanum, Chemnitz; B. cari nature, Turton; B. acuminatitm, Broderip ; B. Anglicanum Fleming; B. Labradorense, Reeve ; B. imperiale, Reeve ; B. pyramidale, Reeve ; B. tenerurn (fossil), Sowerby ; Triton um undatum, Muller; T. Hum phreysianure, Loven ; 21Iurex undatus, Clark. As would be supposed from these synonyms, the Whelk is one of the most variable of shells. It is also one of the most widely distributed. It is found on almost every British shore, varying greatly however in its characters according to its locality. In most parts of the country it is used as an article of diet. Great numbers are to be seen exposed for sale in London. The process of cooking consists in simply boiling, and they are eaten with vinegar and pepper. They are not however very digestible. Dr. Johnston mentions that at the enthronisation feast of William Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1504, no fewer than 8000 Whelks were supplied at five shillings for a thousand.
"This species,' say the authors of the ' British Mollusea,' "first appeared in the British seas during the age of the coral line crag, and persisted through all succeeding epochs, becoming more and more abundant. It is found from low-water mark to as deep as one hundred fathoms. It has a wide latitudinal range, now extending throughout the Celtic, Boreal, and Icy Seas, and along the coast of Boreal America from Cape Cod to Greenland. According to Midden dorff it finds its way through the Siberian seas into the Sea of Ochotak. This great range in time and space accords with its capacity for variation and adaptation to circumstances. During the Pleistocene epoch it had found its way into the Mediterranean, and occurs fossil in the Sicilian newer Pliocene beds, but is now extinct in that region." B. Dalei (Sowerby) has a polished white shell without folds ; the body half as long as the spine. It is the Halia Flemingiana of Mac gillivray, the Tritonium ovum of Middendorff. The animal belonging to this shell is unknown. Messrs. Forbes and Hanley regard this shell as British, though exceedingly rare. It is an inhabitant of the Icy Seas, and ranges from Greenland to Behring's Strait.
. B. Humphreysianune (Bennett). This species is faintly variegated, almost smooth, without folds, the body longer than the spine. The animal is unknown, and the shell is rare. It has been found on the British coasts, but like the last it appears to be an arctic species lingering in our Fauna.
B. fusiforme (Broderip) has an oblong subfusiform shape, is of a pure white, decussated by narrow longitudinal ribs and spiral costellie ; the beak rather long, recurved. It has been found in Ireland in the neighbourhood of Cork and of the coast of Wexford. It is a very rare shell.