Thank you to all who replied about the snake related shells.  This list
continues to amaze.  And since I got that nice response, here is another
puzzler.

I just finished writing up the nerite Clithon squarrosa (Ricluz, 1842) - an
incredible shell!  Anyway, when I hit the etymology part I got stuck.  I
could not find a Latin (or Greek) root for squarrosa.  I did find that it is
an accepted derivation of squamosa - meaning scaly (a perfect description of
this shell).  Interestingly enough, both Reeve (1856) and Sowerby (1887)
have the squamosa name for the shell instead of squarrosa.  I always assumed
it was a spelling error and that someone mistook the double "r" for an "m."
And maybe that is how the squarrosa itself started.  Could Ricluz have
originally written squamosa but the printer for the London Zoological
Society goofed and printed a double "r?"  I realize that 99% of the readers
will not care one way or the other - but I would like to solve this little
problem (that has already taken up way too much time).

Now on to Clithon spinosus!

Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico (USA)