mollusca

noun

1. (plural, plural-only)Molluscs considered as a group.

   “The mollusca are animals with soft bodies, enveloped in a muscular skin, and usually protected by a univalve or bivalve shell. […] The univalve mollusca are encephalous, or furnished with a distinct head; they have eyes and tentacula, and the mouth is armed with jaws.”

   “Turning for a very brief space to animals: on the land there are some hermaphrodites, as land-mollusca and earth-worms; but these all pair.”

   “The amphibious animals are provided with special organs for the sense of smell, although a very delicate sense of smell is likewise met with among the crustacea, such as crabs, mollusca and insects.”

   “Probably frogs, crabs, mollusca, and insects form their chief diet; […]”

   “The löss fauna is largely of terrestrial mollusca, as in America, […]”