A marine shell, never spined, but variously striated. Some species of
this genus are very beautiful; they are frequently worn as ornaments by
the Indians.
Shell solid, thick, more or less globular, flat beneath, spire but
little, if at all, projecting, not umbilicated; aperture large,
semilunar, very entire; the external margin very much hollowed; the
internal or columellar straight, sharp, and shaped like a partition,
often dentated; operculum horny or calcareous, sub-spiral; the summit
entirely marginal at its extremity, implanted by teeth more or less
marked, and sunk in the columellar margin, on which it seems
articulated.
Nerita exuvia.
N. textilis.
N. undata.
N. peloronta.
N. chlorostoma.
N. atrata.
N. polita.
N. albicilla.
N. chamæleon.
N. versicolor.
N. Ascensionis.
N. Malaccensis.
N. lineata.
N. scabricosta.
N. plicata.
N. tessellata.
N. signata.
_N. peloronta._ The bleeding-tooth Nerita. Pl. 21, fig. 5.
Thick, transversely sulcated; inner lip with two crenulations, with a
bloody mark at their base; under lip with two notches near its internal
upper edge; colour yellowish, tinged with red, with variously coloured
bands.
_N. exuvia._ The exuvia Nerita.
Species with the inner lip toothed and tuberculated.
_N. polita._ The smooth Nerita.
Species with both lips toothed; beautifully distinguished by having
three or four bright crimson bands, on a dark mottled ground, running in
a parallel direction with the convolutions of the shell. A favourite
Indian ornament.