ceryx

It does not adhere to its shell like the purple murex and the ceryx, but can easily slip out of it.

The History of Animals 2002

The purple murex breeds about springtime, and the ceryx at the close of the winter.

The History of Animals 2002

The ceryx and the purple murex have this organ firm and solid; and just as the myops, or horse-fly, and the oestrus, or gadfly, can pierce the skin of a quadruped, so is that proboscis proportionately stronger in these testaceans; for they bore right through the shells of other shell-fish on which they prey.

The History of Animals 2002

As it grows it shifts to a larger shell, as for instance into the shell of the nerites, or of the strombus or the like, and very often into the shell of the small ceryx.

The History of Animals 2002

All these statements may be verified in the case of the purple murex and the ceryx by observation within the whorl of the shell.

The History of Animals 2002

They do not go into hiding at one and the same season; but the snails go in winter, the purple murex and the ceryx for about thirty days at the rising of the Dog-star, and the scallop at about the same period.

The History of Animals 2002

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 History of Animals 2002

The substance, is, in fact, an excretion of the porphyra and the ceryx; for it is deposited by the ceryx as well.

The History of Animals 2002

The same phenomena are manifested by the ceryx or trumpet-shell; and the seasons are the same in which the phenomena are observable.

The History of Animals 2002

The nerites has a smooth large round shell, and resembles the ceryx in shape, only the poppy-juice is, in its case, not black but red.

The History of Animals 2002