THE WHELK,
A univalve shell inhabited by a gasteropod mollusk, or, we should rather say, naturally so tenanted, for very frequently it is taken possession of by the Soldier or Hermit Crab, which having no hard covering to protect their soft plump bodies, are obliged to take lodgings where they can get them, and generally prefer the Whelk shell, of which we here give a figure.
This is one of the commonest of our Marine Mollusks; it is called by naturalists Buccinum undatum; the first, or generic term, being the Latin for a trumpet, and the second, or specific name, meaning waved, or, as we often say, undulated. So we call this the Waved Whelk; fishermen term it the Conch, or the Buckie, and tell strange stories of its ravenous appetite and murderous propensities; how, with its spiny tongue, situated at the end of a long flexible proboscis or trunk, it drills a hole in the shell of the Oyster, or other testacean, and sucks out the contents; empty shells, so drilled, are frequently found on the shore, and often, when the dredge is let down into an oyster bed, it comes up time after time filled with Whelks, of which such numbers are sometimes taken, that they are sold to the farmers to be used as manure for the soil. This mollusk is a favourite article of food with the poorer classes of our land, but it is hard and indigestible. The shell may frequently be found in large numbers among the beach stones; it is strong and firm, from three to four inches long, of a dirty yellowish white. There are two other Whelks common upon our coasts—the Stone or Dog Whelk, (B. lapillus,) from the Latin lapis—a stone, and B. reticulatum, so called because the shell is reticulated, or marked with many lines crossing each other, like net-work; it comes from the Latin reticulum—a net; hence also we have reticule—a small work bag, at one time very much carried by ladies.