312 Zoological Society, 



men we have seen "), and of my own cabinet, which is now in the 

 British Museum. 



Mr. Cuming has laid before me some Volutes which he brought 

 from the Philippine Islands, and which, after a careful examination, 

 I think must be referred to this scarce species. Not one of them, 

 however, is identical with the variety in the British Museum (var. a.), 

 which is still, as far as I know, unique. 



Voluta aulica. 



Var. a. Without nodules or bands, spotted with large red flakes : 

 Mus. Brit. Figured in the Tankerville catalogue (G. B. Sowerby). 



Var. b. Flesh-colour, subnodulous, girt with two broad rich red 

 bands mottled with white ; spire mottled with red and white, apex 

 coral-red. Length nearly 4 inches, breadth 1§. 



Var. c. Flesh-colour, nodulous, lineated longitudinally with close- 

 set, red, somewhat undulated lines, mottled here and there with white, 

 girt by two interrupted rich red bands ; spire mottled with red and 

 white, apex coral-red. Length 4 \> breadth 2^th inches. 



Var. d. Nodulous, whitish, lineated with very close-set, delicate, 

 pale yellowish undulated lines ; body whorl girt with two broad yel- 

 lowish red bands mottled finely with the ground-colour. The upper 

 band is bordered above with a row of rich dark brown spots approach- 

 ing closely to black, each spot being placed upon a nodule : the lower 

 edge of this band is serrated as it were, and each of the teeth is 

 marked with a spot immediately under the upper spots, but more 

 dashed and somewhat less intense. The upper edge of the lower 

 band is marked in a similar manner, but the spots are less defined. 

 Above the shoulder of the body whorl is a band of similar colour, 

 with its lower edge dashed with markings of the same colour as those 

 which ornament the other bands, and at similar intervals. Two simi- 

 larly coloured spots appear below the third and fourth nodule of the 

 spire just above the suture of the body whorl, which suture almost 

 hides one below the second of those nodules, counting from the edge 

 of the lip. Upper part of the spiral whorls coloured after the same 

 pattern, and brought out by the pale ground-colour of the lower 

 part. Apex yellowish red. Length 3^ inches, breadth l£. 



This description will convey a very faint notion of one of the most 

 beautiful shells I ever saw\ 



Var. e. Sharply nodulous. Dull red, blotched with flesh-colour ; 

 a faint band, palest in the middle at intervals, girds the body whorl 

 below the middle. The tips of the nodules are of the same colour as 

 the blotches. Length 4^ inches, breadth 2^. 



Var. /. Very sharply nodulous, the muricated nodules becoming 

 high ridges extending almost half-way down the body whorl. Dull 

 coral-red, with here and there a dash of whitish between the nodules. 

 A very faint band may be traced below the middle of the body whorl, 

 and on its darker upper and lower borders a few white spots appear 

 at intervals as they approach the lip. Length 4|ths, breadth 2^th 

 inches. 



Var. g. Bluntly but highly nodulous on the back, the nodules on 



