82 Mr. Broderip on some new and rare Shells, 



VoLUTA MULTi-cosTATA. — Many-Ttbbed Volute,''^ 



V. testa ovato-fusiformi, longitudinaliter multi-costat^, flaves- 

 cente, maculis nigricantibus, et lineolis nigro-spadiccis, frequenli- 

 bus, transversis ornata ; spira mediocri, apice acuto-papillari ; 

 columella multiplicata, plicis ultimis maximis ; basi corrugata, 

 emarginata. Long. 1 \ unc. 



Mus. nost. 



Habitat ? 



Icon. Tab. 3. fig. 1. 



Shell ovately fusiform, with many longitudinal ribs, yellowish, 

 with numerous blackish irregular spots and transverse brownish 

 chesnut lineations ; body-whorl corrugated at the base, which is 

 emarginate ; spire moderate, apex acutely papillary ; pillar many 

 plaited, the three last plaits being the largest. Length 1 J inch. 



This pretty and interesting shell, of which I have seen no 

 other specimen, appears to form one of the beautiful gradations 

 from those Volutes, which are popularly called Musics^ to those 

 which it is my intention to designate by the term Mitriform^ from 

 their very near approach to the Mitres. In V. multi-costata^ the 

 upper plaits of the pillar are no longer strongly developed, the 

 spire is beginning to lengthen, and the apex is become almost 

 that of a mitre. Its locality is unknown. 



♦ Some parts of Lamarck's description of V. mitreeformis will apply to this 

 shell: others will not. Neither in the Monograph in the " Annales du 

 Museum," nor in the " Animaux sans Vert^bres," is there a reference to any 

 figure. The words " ornees de lineoles rousses transverses et de taches rouge~hr\m 

 sur un fond blanchatre," and *' lineoles rougeatres," do not convey the idea of 

 the almost black colouring of our shell, while they are not inapplicable to a 

 small specimen of V. costata (Swainson, Journ. of Science, vol. xvii. p. 33.) 

 Lamarck de>cribes his shell from a specimen in his own museum. Should our 

 shell prove to be his mitraformis, (and I am not at all sure it is not,) the name 

 above given to it must be cancelled. The back of the shell is very dark. 



W. J. B. 



