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Photo taken by User:Haplochromis, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons / https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Turritellidae.jpgIMAGE INFORMATION

A variety of moulds of the inside of unicorn shells

Object Status:

Unlocated

Accession Date:

June 1777

Primary Source Reference:

Du Simitière Memorandum Books, Library of Congress, fol. 22v

Additional Source Text:

"Some with part of the Shell adhering to it resembling a beautifull open Screw of blackish grey very hard & glazed, found with a variety of other Shells petrified on the Side of the bank of a gully 1/2 mile from the river rappahannock in Virginia 250 miles from its mouth."

Notes:

These fossilized shells were likely from Turritellidae, a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs.