214 Zoological Society, 



figured an Ophrys with a similar triple column, but his specimen was 

 quite destitute of any lip. 



The President observed, it might be worth while to examine if 

 this excess of development of the column was always coexistent with 

 the reduced development of the lip. 



The President stated that this structure was quite distinct from 

 the monstrosity of this plant described by Mr. Hincks, where each 

 of the three petals was transformed into poUeniferous columns. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Nov. 22, 1842.— William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



A communication by Mr. Lovell Reeve, ** On the genus P horns, 

 a group of agglutinating Mollusks of the family Turbinacea," was 

 read. 



" It is remarkable that a group of mollusks of such decided import- 

 ance as those which I have selected for consideration should have so 

 long escaped the especial notice of conchologists. The genus Phorus 

 was introduced many 3^ears since by De Montford ; but as it was not 

 recognised by Lamarck, few authors thought it worthy of adoption. 

 Little enough is known of the nature or anatomy of the Fhori, but the 

 remarkable character which their shells exhibit may be sufficiently 

 estimated to rest their claim upon that alone to the rank of a genus. 



*' The character here alluded to is a property which these mollusks 

 possess of agglutinating to the outer surface of their shells any frag-, 

 ments of stones, shells, corals, or other marine debris that they may 

 chance to be in contact with, and which become so firmly attached 

 that they cannot be dislodged without violence. The well-known 

 Carrier Trochus (Trochus agglutinans, Lamarck; Phorus onustus, 

 mihi) was for a long time the only species of Phorus known ; when 

 others even were discovered they were only regarded as varieties of 

 that species, and the agglutinating property which they showed their 

 animal occupants to possess, was not considered to be of any generic 

 importance. The distinction however which De Montford assigned 

 to these animals has become of infinite value, for we now possess 

 several species of them, and the agglutinating power operates in dif- 

 ferent ways in each ; some shells, for example, are found with only 

 a few small pebbles agglutinated to the earlier whorls, whilst others 

 are characterized by their having only such fragments of shells or 

 stones as are flat or tile- shaped collected round the edge or peri- 

 phery of the whorls ; and these several methods of agglutinating are 

 each confined to particular species. Other modifications of this pro- 

 perty may yet be discovered, and I trust, as the Phori are not un- 

 common in the West Indies, that they will ere long be made the 

 subject of anatomical examination. 



** I see no reason at present for altering the situation which is com- 

 monly assigned to these mollusks in the general system ; the struc- 

 ture and formation of the shell, as well as the presence of an oper- 

 culum, seem sufficiently to indicate that they are allied to the Trochi, 

 and not to the Calyptrcece, as supposed by Mr. Gray. 



