Opening the text

The Conchologist's First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology, Arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools, in Which the Animals, According to Cuvier, Are Given With the Shells, a Great Number of New Species Added, and the Whole Brought Up, as Accurately as Possible, to the Present Condition of the Science.Poe, Edgar Allan

Science

The Conchologist's First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology, Arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools, in Which the Animals, According to Cuvier, Are Given With the Shells, a Great Number of New Species Added, and the Whole Brought Up, as Accurately as Possible, to the Present Condition of the Science.

Name: The Conchologist's First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology, Arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools, in Which the Animals, According to Cuvier, Are Given With the Shells, a Great Number of New Species Added, and the Whole Brought Up, as Accurately as Possible, to the Present Condition of the Science.
Author: Poe, Edgar Allan

Poe, Edgar Allan

Mollusks

_Shell._ This beautiful genus derives its name from its resemblance to
the human ear. The exterior, tuberculated, and generally loaded with
marine substances, giving it an uncouth appearance, but its iridescent
interior forms a magnificent contrast; it is pearly, with all the hues
of the rainbow, recurving very depressed, oval, spire very small,
sometimes eroded, almost posterior, aperture as large as the shell, with
margins reflected inwards, the right sharp, left flat, and enlarged;
disk pierced with holes, disposed in a line parallel to and near the
left margin, the last commencing with a notch. These holes formed by the
animal, as it increases the size of the shell, to admit the passage of a
short syphon; they adhere to rocks, and are removed with much
difficulty. Inhabits the sea at Molucca. Nineteen species.

 Haliotis tuberculata.
 H. striata.
 H. asinina.
 H. glabia.
 H. lamellosa.
 H. unilateralis.
 H. rugosa.
 H. canaliculata.
 H. tricostalis.
 H. dubia.
 H. iris.
 H. tubifera.
 H. excavata.
 H. Australis.
 H. Midæ.
 H. rubra.
 H. tricostata.
 H. corrugata.
 H. Mariæ.


                              FAMILY XIV.

                         PLICACEA. Two genera.


                     1. Genus _Tornatella_. Pl. XI.

_Animal._ Body oval, subspiral; foot divided into two heels by a wide
transverse furrow; head provided with two vertical cylindrical
tentacula, having the eyes placed sessilely upon their interior side.

_Shell._ Convolute, oval, cylindrical, mostly striated transversely; no
epidermis; spire very short, last whorl much larger than all the others
together; one or two large plaits on the columella. Inhabits the coast
of Britain. Six species.

 Tornatella fasciata.
 T. solidula.
 T. auricula.
 T. nitidula.
 T. pedipes.
 T. flammea.


                    2. Genus _Pyramidella_. Pl. XI.

_Animal._ As preceding genus.

_Shell._ Smooth and turreted, without epidermis; elongated, conical, or
subturriculated; aperture entire, demioval; the outer lip sharp and
dentated within, columella produced, subperforate at the base, furnished
with transverse plaits. Inhabits the American and W. Indian seas. Six
species.

 Pyramidella terrebellum.

        ·       ·       ·       ·       ·

 Pyramidella maculosa.*
 P. dolabrata.*
 Pyramidella plicata.*
 P. ventricosa.*
 P. corrugata.*


                               FAMILY XV.

                        SCALARINA. Three genera.


                      1. Genus _Scalaria_. Pl. XI.

_Animal._ Spiral; foot short, oval, and inserted beneath the neck; two
tentacula terminated by a filament, and having the eyes at the extremity
of the dilated portion; a proboscis.

_Shell._ Marine, aperture circular, spire more or less pressed and
furnished with longitudinal ribs, formed by the preservation of the
reflected margin of the aperture; edges united, thickened, and outwardly
reflected; operculum horny and thin. Inhabits the American and Indian
seas. Fourteen living species, and three fossil.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.