George Brettingham Sowerby II

“ The knowledge of species must be the foundation of every system, and the greater their number, the more necessary it becomes to subdivide them; if, for instance, all the species now known were to have been included in the 50 genera of Linnæus, a single genus would have contained many hundreds of incongruous species, in which case it would be much more difficult to remember them, than if they were to be divided into a far greater number of genera. ”

“ The shell of a conchiferous animal is always bivalve, composed of two pieces placed opposite to each other, joined at the dorsal margins by an elastic hinge. All true bivalve shells belong to animals of this class; and the correspondence between the shell and the animal is so true that on examining an empty bivalve shell we can not only determine that its inhabitant belonged to this class, but also decide on the particular order and family in which it should be placed, without seeing the soft parts. ”

“ CLAUSIUM. A name applied to the beautiful contrivance whence the genus Clausilia derives its name, consisting of a little bony tortuous plate, placed in a groove on the columella. Here it serves the purpose of a door, which, when not prevented by counteracting pressure, springs forward on its elastic ligament, and encloses the animal in his retirement. The aperture is opened by pushing back the clausium into the groove. ”

“ Shells of Arcadæ, 1-14, have the hinge characterized by a series of teeth on each side of the apex. Nucula, Arca, and Pectunculus are easily distinguished. Limopsis, 14, has a spring pit between the two rows. Our figure of Pinna, 16, is from a young specimen: it grows to great size, and spins a very silky byssus. The shell of Anomia, 18, is fixed to rocks, etc., by means of a bony button passing through a hole or sinus in the lower valve. Lima, 22-24, has a light, thin shell, and its mantle is adorned with beautiful fringes. ”

“ PYRIFORM. (Pyrum, a pear; forma, shape.) Shaped like a pear, i. e. large and rounding at one end, and gradually tapering at the other. Ex. Pyrula, fig. 390.
PYRGO. Defr. A genus of microscopic Foraminifera.
PYRGOMA. Auct. (Πυργος, pyrgus, a tower.) Order, Sessile Cirripedes, Lam.—Descr. Composed of a single conical, hollow paries, with a small aperture closed by an operculum of four valves, and supported upon a cup-shaped base.—Obs. The genera into which Leach has divided this genus are Pyrgoma, Adna, and Megatrema ”

“ The Veneridæ, 4-16 and 23, or "Venus" tribe, differ from it in not having the spring-holding pit. Artemis, 10, 11, is known by a large angular bend in the pallial impression; and Cytherea, 23, is distinguished from Venus by one tooth on the hinge standing out a little way from the central ones. Astarte, 17-22, belongs to the Cyprinidæ.
Plate V.
Fig. 1-3 also represent genera of Cyprinidæ. They have no bend in the palleal impression. Cardium, or "Cockle," 4-13, presents a peculiarity in the foot, which is large and bent, and enables the animal to leap in a very lively manner. ”

“ With the exception of the few contained in the family of Limacina, which ought not to be separated from this order, the whole of the land-shells are contained in this family, and although it is difficult to notice any one character by which terrestrial shells may be distinguished from others, few at all conversant with the subject are liable to mistake them. There is a general lightness and simplicity of form, which, though not clearly definable, is generally understood. The following distribution of genera by Lamarck, is generally acknowledged to require numerous modifications ”

“ For this purpose, we must suppose the animal to be living and creeping along the bed of the sea by means of its foot; where this foot protrudes, will be the ventral margin, and the opposite part the dorsal margin of the shell. There will then be a valve on each side; and if we further suppose the animal to be walking forward with its back to the observer, the right and left valves will correspond with his right and left sides. ”

“ A small genus separated from Balanus, on account of the cup-shaped base, but re-united by Sowerby, who shews, in his Genera of Shells, that this is a merely accidental circumstance, resulting from the situations in which the shells acquire their growth. If, for instance, the Balanus be attached to a flat surface, in an open situation, the base will be short and flat; if it be placed in a hollow among other growing substances, it will be lengthened out in order that the aperture of the shell may be even with the outer surface of the surrounding mass ”

“ Where there is but one adductor muscle, there will be but one of these impressions near the centre of each valve, but in the Dimyaria, where there are two, the impressions are seen, one on the anterior, and one on the posterior of each valve, just below the hinge lamina. They are sometimes complex, that is composed of several portions in a group; but in general, they are simple and well defined.
They are also described as large or small, in proportion to the size of the shell; regular or irregular in form. ”

“ INTERNAL SHELL is one which is enclosed in the soft parts of the animal, as a bone is enclosed in the flesh of a human body. The Limax, or common garden slug, which has a testaceous shield beneath its mantle, is an instance of this.
IO. Lea. A genus composed of several species of fresh-water shells which are considered as differing from Melaniæ in having the anterior termination of the aperture produced into a point in some degree resembling the caudal canals of shells belonging to the family of Canalifera, which are marine. ”

“ The Nautilus, the Spirula, the Scaphite, and the Ammonite are the leading types of this form; but when we use the term symmetrical, in reference to these, the word must not be understood in its strictest sense, for no shell is perfectly symmetrical: but it means that there is no perceptible difference in the proportion of the two sides; as in the human body, the right side is larger and more powerful than the left, yet to a degree so small that it gives no apparent bias to the figure. ”

“ The shelly or membranaceous plate with which some of the animals enclose the aperture of their shells, during the wintry part of the year, for the purpose of protecting them while in a torpid state, and which they get rid of by dissolving the edges, when preparing to emerge from their temporary retirement, must not be considered as the operculum, as it does not belong to or form part of either the animal or its shell, but is produced for the occasion by a secretion of the animal, being deposited in a soft state and subsequently hardening. ”

“ The operculum always consists of more than one piece, generally of two pairs: they are either articulated to each other by serrated edges, and placed against each other conically, as in Balanus, or they lie flat in two pairs against each other. Through the ventral pair the cirrhi protrude.
The parietal valves, composing the principal part of the shell, vary in number, form and position. The anterior valves are placed on the same side with the cirrhi; the posterior, those on the opposite side; and those which remain between on each side are the lateral valves. ”

“ A genus proposed for the admission of a singular fossil shell, found on the beach at Felix-stone, of which the following are the characters;—fusiform, aperture equalling the spire in length, terminating anteriorly in a slightly recurved canal; columellar lip smooth, curved, thickened posteriorly into a blunt tooth; spire obtuse.—Obs. This shell would be a Fusus were it not for the tooth on the posterior extremity of the columellar lip. The only species known is regularly striated in a spiral direction, and named A. Elegans. ”

“ In counting the whorls of which the spire consists, we commence at the apex, and reckon downwards to the last, or body whorl. The spire is described as being long or short in relation to the aperture: in which case, all that is above the aperture is measured with the spire. Its apex requires particular notice, as the character of the whole shell frequently depends upon the particulars observable in this part. It is sometimes obtuse, or blunt; sometimes acute, or sharp. ”

“ The shell named Nautilus by Pliny is the Argonauta of modern authors, a thin shell, not chambered. The Nautili are known from the Ammonites by the septa being simple, not sinuated as in the latter genus, and in general the volutions of the spire are not visible. Three or four species are known inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean and Australian Ocean. The fossil species are found in the tertiary, and also in the secondary strata, as low down as the Mountain limestone. ”

“ Some species are smooth, although the greater number are imbricated or crisped outside. P. saccata, fig. 162.
PINNATED. (From Pinna, a fin.) When a part of a shell is spread out and smooth, as in Rostellaria columbaria, fig. 403, it is said to be alated, or winged, but when the part which is spread is radiated or ribbed, like the fin of a fish, it is pinnated, as in Murex pinnatus, and Murex tripterus. (Conch. Illustr.)
PIRENA. Lam. A genus of fresh-water shells, rejected by De Ferussac and other authors, who place Lamarck's two first species with Melanopsis, and his two last with Melania. ”

“ Some species attain very large dimensions, and measure two feet in length. A very improbable story is told with regard to animals of this genus, namely that a certain small species of crab is in the habit of taking refuge from its enemies in the shell of the Pinna, into which it is received with great hospitality and kindness by the "blind slug," which inhabits it. ”

“ Conical, convolute, with a short spire, consisting of numerous whorls; and narrow lengthened aperture, terminating in a slight emargination at each extremity; outer lip thin; epidermis thin; operculum small, pointed, horny.—Obs. This well-known genus of shells is easily distinguished from any other, by its conical form, its smooth columella, its narrow aperture, and thin outer lip. The form of the spire varies from flat and even partially concave, to a regular pyramidal cone; and the upper edges of the whorls are rounded in some species, angulated in others, and in some are waved or coronated. ”

“ Equivalve, inequilateral, foliaceous, trilobate, undulated, irregular, attached by a byssus passing through a sinus in one valve; hinge rectilinear, lengthened by two auricles; with a small disc under the umbones, containing the ligament, and a groove containing the cartilage; muscular impressions one in each valve, large, uniform, and one or two others extremely minute.—Obs. Malleus Vulgaris, the type of this genus, is a most singular shell, commonly called the "Hammer Oyster," from the peculiarity of its shape. ”

“ This genus, of which only two or three recent species are known, resembles many species of Venus and Cytherea in general form; but differs in having lateral teeth, and in the palleal impressions which in all the Veneres, &c. is sinuated. From Lucina it may be known, not only by its oval form, but also by the muscular impressions, which, in Lucina are produced into an elongated point; it will also be distinguished from Tellina, by the want of a posterior fold in the valve, for which that genus is remarkable. C. Fimbriata, fig. 101, is an inhabitant of the Indian Ocean. ”

“ Scientific men have long been engaged in the interesting discussion, whether the animal really belongs to the shell in which it is found, or whether, having destroyed the rightful owner, it has possessed itself of the "frail bark." It is now, however, proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Argonaut is the testaceous part of the Ocythöe, and that the broad membranes which in some representations have been artificially placed as sails, are naturally bent backwards over the shell like the mantle of some other molluscs. ”

“ In other cases the byssus is of a more compact substance, and passes through a perforation in the shell itself. This is the case with many of the brachiopodous shells, in some species of which the perforation is in the point of the umbones, a specimen of which is represented in the Introduction. This species of attachment does not keep the animal motionless, although it is confined to a particular spot. Other shells are attached by a portion of their own substance, as in Chama, Spondylus, Serpula, &c. in which instances, the attached valve is motionless, and is termed the under valve. ”

“ A genus formed for the reception of Pupa secale, Drap. Pupa Juniperi, Montague, which have plaits in the aperture.
CHRYSOAR. Montf. Probably a species of Orthoceras.
CHRYSODOMUS. Swains. "Distinguished from Fusus, by the comparative shortness of the basal channel, and the ventricose or enlarged shape of the body whorl. The beautiful orange-mouthed Whelk of England is a typical example; and the few others now known are all of a very large size, and chiefly found in Northern Seas, where they represent the more elegant Fusi of tropical latitudes; the outer lip is always thin and smooth." ”

“ FORNICATED. Arched or vaulted, as the exfoliations on the costæ of Tridacna Elongata, fig. 157.
FOSSIL SHELL. A shell is considered to be in a fossil state when, the soft parts having ceased to exist, it is deprived of all its animal juices, has lost all, or nearly all its natural colour, and is thus changed in its chemical composition, when little or nothing is left but a mere bone, which is embedded in a sedimentary deposit. ”

“ Those which are symmetrically convolute, as the Nautilacea and the Ammonacea, which are spiral; 2nd. Those which are not spiral, but simply conical, as the patelliform shells. Bivalves belonging to the Brachiopoda are also symmetrical. Ex. Patella, fig. 229. Ammonites, fig. 478.
SYMPHYNOTA. Lea. A genus of Nayades, in which Mr. Lea proposed to include species of the genus Unio, the valves of which are connate, or united at the dorsal margin. We believe that this distinction, as a genus, has been abandoned by its author. The fact is, that all the Uniones are Symphynotæ when in a young state. ”