332 VEXERID^E. 



nitidissima. It is not the V. lupinus of Brocchi, nor 

 the V. sinuata of Gnielin, the latter being a reputed in- 

 habitant of the Nicobar Isles. Turton strangely figured 

 V. eocoleta for his V. sinuata, in the ' Dithyra ' : his typical 

 specimen of the last-named species is certainly V. eocoleta. 

 He evidently confounded the two. 



B. Mantle -tubes nearly united throughout. Shell triangular, 

 slightly impressed with concentric lines ; inside margin 

 plain. 



3. V. Chi'one *, Linne. 



V. Chione, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 1131. Cytherea Ckione, F. & H. i. p. 396. 

 pi. xrvii., and (animal) pi. L. f. 8. 



Body orange-ueshcolour : mantle fringed with a few tenta- 

 cular cirri at the upper part of the anterior side, and scalloped 

 or furbelowed in other parts : tubes rather long, united nearly 

 to their orifices, each of which is surrounded by a circle of 

 cirri ; the tubes are of a deep orange- colour with fleshy stripes, 

 and the tips of the cirri are black : foot very large, thick, and 

 of a dark pinkish-neshcolour. (Poli.) 



Shell triangularly oval, convex but not tumid, very solid 

 and opaque, highly polished : sculpture, numerous and irregu- 

 lar but slight concentric lines or striae, besides about a dozen 

 marks of growth : colour reddish-brown, with often a pink 

 tinge, beautifully variegated by rays of a deeper hue and of 

 different widths, which diverge from the beak in the direction 

 of the anterior side, and extend to the outer margins ; these 

 rays are interrupted in the young and become zigzag or ex- 

 hibit lines of intensely coloured spots (bordering the marks of 

 periodical growth) of various tints from fawncolour to bright 

 orange or sea-green ; a younger state has three longitudinal 

 broad white rays, one in the middle, and the others on either 

 side of the beaks : epidermis thick, resembling a coat of var- 

 nish, covered with close-set longitudinal striae, which are 

 arranged in series corresponding with the concentric lines of 

 the shell ; its surface is wrinkled very minutely, like that of 

 morocco -leather : margins rounded on the anterior side, whence 

 they slope obliquely to the front, which is also rounded ; poste- 



* A mythological name in Ovid. 



