"It is generally admitted that the camouflage of Xe?iophora is for protection rather than ornamentation, for it would be inconceivable that a female Xenophora would call over the back fence to her girl friend with, 'Come and see the perfect dream of a shell I picked up today and tell me if I have it on straight.' "
There are 3 species in the Atlantic, one a shallow water species, the other two (longleyi Bartsch, pi. 23d, and caribaea Petit, pi. 2 3e) deep water inhabit- ants.
Xenophora conchy liophor a Born Atlantic Carrier-shell Plate 5b
North Carolina to Key West and the West Indies.
2 inches in diameter, not including foreign attachments. No umbilicus. From above, the shell with its attached rubble and shells looks like a small heap of marine trash. It will attach any kind of shell to itself, but in some areas has access to only one kind, say Chione cancellata. Animal bright-red. Seasonally not uncommon. Johnsonia is in error in calling this trochiformis Bom 1778 (not 1780), which is the Peruvian shell known formerly as Trochita radians Lam.
Family APORRHAIDAE Genus Aporrhais da Costa 1778
Aporrhais Occident alis Beck American Pelican's Foot Plate 23c
Labrador to off North Carolina.
2 to 2% inches in length, spire high, whorls well-rounded and with about 15 to 25 curved axial ribs per whorl. Many minute spiral threads present. Outer hp greatly expanded and its edge heavily thickened. Color ashen-gray to yellowish white. Operculum small, corneous, brown, claw-like, but with smooth edges. Commonly dredged off New England from a few to 200 fathoms.
The form mainensis C. W. Johnson (Nova Scotia to Mt. Desert) differs in having 14 axial ribs, instead of about 22 to 25 as in the typical form, but specimens intergrade. The form labradorensis C. W. Johnson is smaller, more slender, and with up to 29 ribs per whorl.
Fajnily STROMBIDAE Genus Strom bus Linne 1758
Strombus pugilis Linne West Indian Fighting Conch Plate 5g
Southeast Florida and the West Indies.
