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Whelks — Part 1

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.

N. harpa, Morch., four to six inches long, closely ribbed, pale yellow, with oval, salmon-tinted aperture, occurs at Sitka.

Genus SIPHO, Klein.

Shell thin, pear-shaped, or spindle-shaped, with smooth, rounded whorls; lips simple; canal and spire produced; operculum ovate, with apical nucleus. Thirty-seven species.

Habitat.--Circumpolar.

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. pigmaeus, Gld., scarcely over an 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 brownish white shell is handsomely knobbed. It is found in the shallows at low tide. Length, 3 to 5 inches.