animals

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The same phenomena

are manifested by the ceryx or trumpet-shell;
and the seasons are the same in which the phenomena are observable.
Both animals, also, the murex and the ceryx, have their opercula
similarly situated-and, in fact, all the stromboids, and this is
congenital with them all; and they feed by protruding the so-called
tongue underneath the operculum. The tongue of the murex is bigger
than one's finger, and by means of it, it feeds, and perforates
conchylia and the shells of its own kind. Both the murex and the ceryx
are long lived. The murex lives for about six years; and the yearly
increase is indicated by a distinct interval in the spiral convolution
of the shell.