574 NOTES ON SPECIES OF CYPR.EA, 



base, which is white; the toothing is weak on both sides of the 

 aperture, the sunk spire is pronounced. 



CypR^A PIPERITA, MSS. Solander. — Roberts in his paper in 

 Vol. vii. of Tryon's Manual, p. 189, gives Solander as the author 

 of this species, as also does Sowerby in his Thesaurus Conchyliorum, 

 Vol. iv. p. 31. Roberts, however, on p. 222 of the index of same 

 work quoted calls it Cy. piperita, Sol. MSS., and as it is put it 

 leads one to suppose that it was so called by Solander. In the 

 Zoological Journal for 1824, ?Vol. i. p. 498, one finds in Gray's 

 Monograph on the GyprctidmAh^ioV^ommg description : — 



"67. CyprcEajnperita. — The Peppered Cowry." "Testa ovato- 

 oblonga, castanea, obscure quadri-fasciata; basi albida, marginibus 

 sub-incrassatis, albidis, fusco-punctatis; labiis supra marginatis; 

 columella concava, plicata." 



Now I maintain that this is the original description of this 

 species, and that it was written by John Edward Gray, Following 

 the description in Latin as given comes this : — '■Cyprcea "piperita, 

 " Solander's MSS." Humphrey. Mus. Nost.' What does this 

 mean % It means this, that Humphrey had a collection of shells 

 (Mus. Nost.), and in that collection was a shell to which Solander 

 affixed a MS. name. 



Gray in a liberal spirit, when he described the species in his 

 valuable monograph, allowed Solander's MS. name to continue, but 

 was in no way bound to do so. Then follows : — " Icon. Zoological 

 Journal, t. . 6." It is evident that Gray had intended his new 

 species {piperita) to be figured on a certain Plate as figure 6; but 

 it never was figured, as the first Plate illustrative of his paper is 

 PI. vii. This is not a mistake, for in the explanation of PI. vii., 

 of Cyprseas described by him, it gives 6 to Gyp. arenosa, an 

 excellent illustration of the species. Then Gray's description 

 goes on — "Inhabits New Holland; Maioe (Mus. Nost.)." Indi- 

 cating that Mawe, who wx-ote up the Linnpean System of Con- 

 chology (dated 1823), had a specimen of Gi^ay's new species 

 [piperita) in his cabinet from New Holland. 



