Mr. Broderip on two new Shells from the Mauritius, 201 



Habite les mers de Tlade. Mon cabinet. Le dernier tour a 

 trois rangees de tubercules pointus; les autres n'en ont qu' une. 

 Longueur, 3 pouces. Vulg. la bourse/' 



Now there would be no doubt as to this being the description 

 of the common Frog or Murex ranuy Lin.,* were it not for the 

 account of the aperture " apertura aurantio-rubra, albo sulcata ;" 

 and I certainly have never seen a specimen of that shell, the 

 aperture of which justified the epithet of '' orange-red furrowed 

 with white." On the contrary, all the specimens which I have 

 seen (and there is more than one variety) have been extremely 

 pallid in the aperture, which is almost entirely white, with a few 

 dashes of pale yellow or chesnut about the borders, and sometimes 

 without any. Lamarck's description of the aperture seems, how- 

 ever, to have weighed with Mr. Sowerby, who has named the 

 specimen which was in the Tankerville collection, H. crumena^ 

 and the description certainly is very strong. 



On the other hand, we must recollect that Lamarck's jR. crU" 

 mena is the Murex rana^ Lin. ; and, on referring to the figures, 

 we shall find that there is not one which can be well mistaken for 

 R,foUata. If we strike out Lamarck's description of the aper- 

 ture, nothing will remain to designate any other shell than the 

 common Frog^ or, as he says, '' vulg. la bourse ;" and, when we 

 remember the painful visitation which compelled this great man 

 to use the eyes of others, we may cease to wonder at so highly 

 coloured a description. Ranella crumena is a very common shell 

 and is widely spread over the Indian seas. Ranella foliata is 

 very scarce, and the only specimens which have come to my know- 

 ledge (with the exception of that in the Tankerville collection, 

 which I am unable to trace) have been undoubtedly received from 

 the Mauritius, which place I have little hesitation in giving as its 

 locality. The finest of those known in England, is, I am told, in 

 the cabinet of Lady Farquhar, the Tankerville shell is in the ex- 

 tensive cabinet of the Provost of Eton, one was sold a short time 

 ago by Mr. Thomas, in King-street, and I have heard from Mr. 

 Gray that there is a specimen with the foliations much injured, in 

 the collection of Mr. Sowerby at Lambeth. R,foUatay like many 

 * Tab. Supp. XI. fig. 2. 



