Zoological Society. 523 



shell ; the surface is remarkable in being covered with a number of 

 sharp prickles, particularly within and around the umbilicus. 



Mr. Reeve also described a new species of the genus Murex. 

 Murex Stainforthii. Mur. testa subsolidd, globoso-ovatd vix 

 fusiformi, multivaricosd, superficie pallido-aurantid, epidermide 

 tenui indutd, transversim liratd, liris fusco-lineatis ; spird bre- 

 viusculd, apice subobtuso ; anfractibus quinque, suturis indistinc- 

 tis ; anfractu ultimo varicibus octo ornato, cceteris, varicibus 

 decorticatis,fere obsoletis; varicibus per totam longitudinem den- 

 sissime frondosis, frondibus acutissimis, recurvis ; canali brevi, 

 latiusculo ; aperturd rotunda, fauce crenulatd, politd, utrinque 

 vivide aurantid. 

 Long. 2-j^jj ; lat. \\ in. Mus. In wood. 



Hob. ? 



The very beautiful and characteristic shell above described has 

 been handed to us by its fortunate possessor, Henry In wood, Esq., 

 accompanied with a request that it be named in honour of one of our 

 most assiduous collectors, the Rev. Mr. Stainforth. And it is with 

 no little pleasure that we have executed the task ; for a shell more 

 chaste in its colour and development, or more striking in its specific 

 character, we do not remember to have seen. It is of a solid and 

 somewhat globose structure, and is profusely ornamented with va- 

 rices ; there are eight distinct varices on the last whorl, and the re- 

 mains of a similar number are visible on each of the former ; but in 

 the specimen before us, and which we believe to be unique, they are 

 so decorticated as to have become almost obsolete. Each varix ap- 

 pears to have been formed by the sudden development of a number 

 of coatings laid successively one upon the other. The edge of each 

 of these coatings is then ornamented with a row of line prickly 

 branches, recurved back over the shell, and they only remain perfect 

 to the last coating in consequence of those of the previous or under 

 coatings having been necessarily in part removed or absorbed ; unless 

 indeed the under coatings are too rapidly developed, the one over 

 the other, to allow of their marginal branches attaining the regularity 

 and beauty of the last. The varix altogether has thus the appear- 

 ance of being thickly studded from top to bottom with these delicate 

 prickles : so delicately indeed are they formed, that it is only on the 

 last or marginal varix of the shell that they remain in perfect order ; 

 in tracing them back round the body whorl, they may be observed 

 to have become gradually more and more eroded. Should a speci- 

 men of this shell be found with all the varices in the same beautiful 

 order as the marginal varix in this, it would indeed be " fair to look 

 upon." The canal is rather short; the outer lip is strongly crenu- 

 lated, and the crenulse extend within the mouth of the shell, the 

 whole of them, together with the broad columella, being covered 

 with a highly polished orange enamel. 



A letter from George Robert Gray, Esq., addressed to the Curator, 

 was next read. This letter refers to the members of J.E. Gray's genus 

 Tetraogallus, or Mountain Partridge, a rare species of which is at 



2M2 



